High Tide Secures C$40M Credit Approval, Expands Ontario Footprint with Northern Helm Acquisition

CALGARY – High Tide Inc. continues to build its position as a major player in Canadian Сannabis retail. The company, which operates the Canna Cabana chain, signed a definitive agreement to acquire four Ontario retail Сannabis stores from J. Supply Holdings Inc., operating as Northern Helm, in a transaction valued at C$7.74 million.

The agreement covers four retail locations in Bowmanville, Kingston, Courtice, and Oshawa. Once completed, the deal will bring High Tide to 228 locations across Canada, including 103 in Ontario. The company’s long-term target remains a 350-plus store national network.

The purchase price includes about C$3.2 million in assumed debt carrying a 2% interest rate. Of the remaining amount, 40% comes in cash and 60% in High Tide shares, valued at the 10-day volume-weighted average price on the TSX Venture Exchange with a floor based on discounted market price. The shares will carry a standard four-month-and-one-day hold period. The price represents 4.5 times the annualized adjusted EBITDA of the stores for the three months ended March 31, 2026. That multiple sits at the lower end of where established Сannabis retail assets have traded in Canada – a reflection of High Tide’s negotiating scale and an Ontario market where smaller operators have struggled to compete against the company’s discount-club model.

The deal remains subject to approvals from the TSX Venture Exchange and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, along with other standard closing conditions. Both sides expect it to finish in the coming weeks.

High Tide has followed a steady pattern of adding stores through acquisitions and new openings while integrating them into its discount-club model. The company holds a growing share of the Canadian market and has expanded into medical Сannabis distribution in Germany. This latest step adds proven locations with existing customer bases in key Ontario markets.

High Tide secured credit approval from Bank of Montreal for C$40 million in new senior secured credit facilities, comprising a C$25 million committed revolving facility with a three-year maturity and a C$15 million committed delayed draw term loan. The revolving facility will refinance the company’s existing senior credit facility with connectFirst Credit Union. The delayed draw term loan is intended to refinance existing C$15 million second-lien debentures. Covenants require Senior Funded Debt/EBITDA below 2.0x, Total Funded Debt/EBITDA below 3.0x, and a minimum fixed charge coverage ratio above 1.25x.

Viewed in isolation, the Northern Helm deal is a tidy acquisition – four cash-flowing stores at a reasonable multiple in a province where High Tide already holds commanding share. However, a more telling is the pairing of a Big 5 bank credit facility and an expansion deal on the same day. That combination is structural. When a Canadian chartered bank steps in as senior lender at prime-plus pricing, it validates both the company’s credit profile and the broader proposition that Cannabis retail in Canada can be financed through conventional institutional channels, not just subordinated debentures and equity dilution.