A little over a week after it announced it was reviewing strategic options, Fire & Flower (TSX: FAF) has filed for creditor protection. The filing follows the failure of the review to identify any sufficient financing options.

Included in the filing for creditor protection are the firms subsidiaries Pineapple Express Delivery, which it acquired in January 2022 in exchange for the settlement of $5.15 million of debt and the issuance of shares, as well as Friendly Stranger Holdings Corp, a retail chain acquired in December 2020 for $23 million in shares, and Hifyre, an industry real-time sales data analysis platform.

Fire & Flower and its subsidiaries made the filing in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. FTI Consulting has been approved as monitor, while a debtor-in-possession loan (DIP loan), was provided by a subsidiary of Alimentation Couche-Tard. The loan is for an amount of $9.8 million, which will fund the operations of the company during the process.

The company has indicated that its board of directors and management team will remain in place as the company looks to streamline operations and conduct a court-supervised sales process to obtain a resolution to the process.

As of March 31, Fire & Flower reportedly had a cash position of $8.2 million, compared to accounts payable and accrued liabilities of $18.0 million. Total current assets sat at $38.0 million, versus total currently liabilities of $50.8 million, including $2.4 million in debentures that are to be paid back in June, and a further $11.6 million that must be paid back in December.

Fire & Flower is expected to be removed from trading on the TSX following the filing.

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