Business
High Tide Closes C$40 Million BMO Credit Facilities
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High Tide Inc (HITI ). has closed C$40 million in senior secured credit facilities with the Bank of Montreal (BMO ), completing a refinancing that retires the Calgary-based cannabis retailer’s existing senior loan and positions it to take out its costliest remaining debt, the company announced on August 5, 2026.
In connection with the closing, High Tide repaid and terminated its senior credit facility with ConnectFirst Credit Union, an Alberta-based regional lender. BMO (one of Canada’s Big Five chartered banks) now sits as the company’s senior lender, a shift High Tide says materially increases its financial flexibility and lowers its cost of capital.
The package splits into two pieces. A C$25 million committed revolving credit facility with a three-year maturity absorbed the C$6.0 million balance owed to ConnectFirst, leaving roughly C$19 million of undrawn capacity available for working capital, general corporate purposes, and permitted acquisitions and investments. A C$15 million committed delayed-draw term loan is intended to refinance High Tide’s existing C$15 million in second-lien debentures. The facilities are secured by substantially all of the assets of the company and certain subsidiaries, and carry customary financial covenants.
The structure matters because of what it replaces. Second-lien debentures, subordinated debt that ranks behind a senior lender in a claim on assets, typically carry some of the most expensive coupons on a cannabis company’s balance sheet. Swapping C$15 million of that paper for bank debt under a BMO facility cuts the interest burden on exactly the slice that costs the most, while the revolver converts a fully drawn regional-bank loan into mostly unused capacity the company can tap when it chooses.
From term sheet to closing in three months
The closing completes a sequence High Tide laid out over the spring and summer of 2026. The company first announced a term sheet with a Big Five bank on May 5, 2026, then disclosed on June 15, 2026 that BMO had granted formal credit approval, with closing subject to customary conditions. At the time, founder and chief executive Raj Grover framed the deal as a turning point for the company.
“This is a defining moment for High Tide and speaks volumes about the scale, consistency, and quality of what we have built,” Grover said in the June announcement. “Our new senior lender’s facility translates directly into materially lower-cost capital as we enter our next phase of growth.”
The June release pegged the ConnectFirst payoff at slightly over C$6 million and promised closing within roughly 30 days; the actual close came about 51 days later, with the confirmed payoff figure landing at C$6.0 million. The financing also follows a busy stretch on the company’s news wire: it issued preliminary third-quarter guidance pointing to record revenue earlier in August 2026, closed the acquisition of Ontario retailer Northern Helm, and earlier this summer adopted a shareholder rights plan aimed at protecting its cannabis store licenses.
What High Tide’s balance sheet looks like now
- C$40 million: total committed senior secured facilities with BMO
- C$25 million: revolving credit facility, three-year maturity
- C$15 million: delayed-draw term loan earmarked to retire second-lien debentures
- C$6.0 million: ConnectFirst loan repaid and terminated at closing
- ~C$19 million: undrawn revolver capacity after the payoff
High Tide’s operating footprint gives context for why a Big Five bank would take the senior position. Its Canna Cabana chain is Canada’s largest cannabis retailer with 229 domestic locations plus one international store, across five provinces, holding what the company describes as a 12% share of the Canadian market. Its German medical cannabis distribution arm, Remexian Pharma, claims a 14% share of that market and import licenses spanning 19 countries. The company trades on Nasdaq and the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker HITI.
The next observable step is the delayed-draw term loan doing its stated job: the repayment of the C$15 million in second-lien debentures, which the company lists among the forward-looking items in the closing release. Once that draw lands, High Tide’s funded debt will sit entirely within the BMO facilities, with the three-year revolver maturity running into 2029.
