#109 - Creating Value by Going Deep in Key States (ft. Abner Kurtin, CEO of Ascend Wellness)

Joining us today is Abner Kurtin who is CEO, Chairman and Co-Founder of Ascend Wellness Holdings (AWH). Abner’s background is as an investor – starting at the highly regarded Baupost and moving on to starting his own hedge fund. He raised $50M to invest in the cannabis space before switching gears and Co-Founding Ascend in 2018.

In only 3 years Ascend has become a top player in IL with an eye to repeating the model in NY, NJ and Mass (the company is also in MI and OH).

In this episode we discuss:

- Abner’s Investment Background: What he learned working at Baupost

- Raising $50M to Invest in Cannabis: The 3 Key Factors Abner looked for in each deal

- Why Investing in MSOs like Grassroots, GTI, Pharmacann made sense

- Starting Ascend – Being opportunistic in MA and IL

- How AWH became a top player in IL alongside GTI, Cresco & Verano

- The importance of being scaled and vertical in every market

- NJ: How AWH got started and why NJ will be the story of 2022

- What to look forward to in NY and how the state is progressing

- Is slow uplisting a risk or opportunity to the cannabis space?

- Why is capital allocation so important in this industry?

- The Future of Ascend: Acquiring, Merging or Selling the company

Thank you to Abner for joining us for this jam-packed interview

You can find more information on AWH including past earnings calls at: https://awholdings.com/investors/