Ex-Hooters Franchisee Plans to Raise Up to $172.5M to Enter Cannabis Industry
January 09, 2020
A former hedge fund manager, Hooters franchise owner and blueberry farm president hopes to raise up to $172.5 million to enter the cannabis industry.
William F. “Mickey” Harley III of Massapequa is chief executive of Woodbury-based “blank check” company Greenrose Acquisition Corp., which filed for an initial public offering to raise the capital.
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Alon Kapen, a securities lawyer at Uniondale-based Farrell Fritz, said the cannabis business is attracting attention despite its illegal status under federal law.
“There’s a lot of momentum in this industry,” he said. “A lot of people are identifying this as a tremendous opportunity, but it’s not without risk.”
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Kapen said that stricter SEC regulations, including some that he deems overly burdensome, have made blank check companies more respectable.
“They were, quite frankly, being used as a vehicle for fraud,” he said of blank check companies. “In the real world, a bad reputation is hard to shake off.”
Kapen said that blank check companies accounted for about 20% of U.S. IPOs in 2018 and slightly less in terms of total dollars raised.
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- Related Practice Areas: Emerging Companies & Venture Capital
- Featured Attorneys: Alon Y. Kapen
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