October 6, 2026
Both sides of the Curaleaf-Aurora takeover fight have now asked the Alberta Securities Commission to intervene. Curaleaf filed first, on September 14, asking the commission to stop Aurora from selling stock under its at-the-market program while the bid is open. Aurora answered on September 23 with an application of its own saying the bid itself breaks Canadian securities rules. As of October 5, neither company has disclosed a hearing date or a ruling.
Meanwhile Curaleaf's board approved a new pay package for chairman and CEO Boris Jordan on September 28, including a one-time stock grant worth $15.4 million. The bid expires December 1, unless the Alberta Securities Commission resets the clock.
Aurora's application makes three complaints about how Curaleaf launched the offer:
Aurora wants the commission to make Curaleaf deliver the pro formas and publish the notice. It also wants shareholders to get a full 105-day deposit period that starts only after those fixes are made. "These are not technicalities. They are shareholder protection requirements, and they matter," Aurora CEO Miguel Martin said.
Aurora first raised the deposit-period and Quebec-notice objections in early September, and we covered them in our September 14 post on the dilution fight. The formal application is new, and so is the pro forma complaint. If the commission agrees on the 105-day point, the December 1 deadline would likely move into 2027. That is our reading of Aurora's request, not anything the commission has said.
Curaleaf's September 14 application argued that Aurora's share sales had diluted holders by about 11% since the program launched in February. "Every Share Aurora sells below the Offer price raises the same question," Jordan said in Curaleaf's release: if management thinks US$4.00 is too low, why keep selling stock below it?
Aurora's answer was that the program predates the bid by six months and had been idle for weeks. Its board still unanimously recommends that shareholders not tender. Two days after Curaleaf filed, Aurora put out a business update announcing a deal to buy Safari Flower Company for more EU-GMP production capacity. It also repeated its C$149 million in cash and no debt as of June 30 and said the ATM "will only be used when the Board determines it is in the best interest of the Company to do so."
Neither company has disclosed how many Aurora shares have been tendered.
Curaleaf disclosed Jordan's new package in an 8-K filed October 5. The compensation committee and board approved three changes on September 28 "to support Curaleaf's performance and strategic objectives":
The filing does not connect the grant or the strategic targets to Aurora, and we are not suggesting it does. The timing is the notable part. The board approved the package in the middle of a contested bid, and the grant doesn't vest until January 2028.
For U.S. vendors, the takeover is mostly a question of where Curaleaf's attention and capital go. The bid is mostly stock, with US$0.75 a share in cash, so it is not a large cash drain. But a contested deal in front of a regulator, with a deadline that could slip into 2027, keeps senior management focused on Canada for longer than the original December 1 date suggested.
The November 3 earnings call is the next chance to hear how Curaleaf is spending on its U.S. stores while this plays out. In the meantime, the independent dispensaries competing with Curaleaf in its markets have no takeover to manage.
Has the Alberta Securities Commission ruled on Curaleaf's bid for Aurora? Not as of October 5, 2026. Curaleaf filed an application on September 14 and Aurora filed one on September 23. Neither company has disclosed a hearing date.
When does Curaleaf's offer for Aurora expire? December 1, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. Mountain Time, unless it is extended, varied, or withdrawn. Aurora has asked the commission to require a new 105-day deposit period.
What is Curaleaf offering for Aurora? 0.3463 of a Curaleaf subordinate voting share plus US$0.75 in cash per Aurora share, valued at about US$4.00 when the bid launched in August.
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