There were three fewer transactions and a $57.5 million lower volume than the prior week. Compared to last year's same week, six fewer transactions closed with a $3.2 million higher volume. The average deal size was $28.3 million this week vs. $6.7 million in the same week last year.

The ongoing tumultuous news cycle of war, inflation, new covid strains, etc. was overlaid with a week of relatively disappointing earnings, a delay in the New Jersey rollout, the reintroduction of the MORE Act back to the House, and perhaps most importantly, the announcement of another blockbuster M&A deal, Cresco/Columbia. Amazingly, the cannabis equity market shrugged all of this off to finish the week nearly flat, up 0.43%.

Total capital raises for the first twelve weeks of 2022 total $1.20B, down 74% from $4.56B last year. Reduced equity issuance (down 86% y/o/y in the U.S. and 97% in Canada) was partially compensated for in the U.S. by solid debt issuance (up 401% y/o/y, however, Canada's debt decline of 93% brought total debt issuance down as well. As the graph below shows, capital raises for the first twelve weeks of 2022 were dominated by U.S. activity. A higher percentage of capital raises came from international locations than we have seen in any recent year's first quarter.

The #TalkingHedge...

https://youtu.be/n7714IWR6qQ