Aurora Cannabis's board opened its books to a due diligence review. It opened them for Organigram, not for Curaleaf. That sequence is what Curaleaf, whose bid for Aurora has been outstanding since August, is now making public.
For Aurora shareholders, the situation is this: two competing offers are now in play, and the board has chosen to advance one of them while refusing to engage with the other. Curaleaf says that refusal shuts off any chance of an improved bid from its side — and it is laying the blame directly on Aurora's directors.
Curaleaf first made its offer to buy all outstanding Aurora shares in August 2026 and enhanced it on October 6. The company says its offer delivers a stronger combined business, greater certainty on closing and better synergies, though the release does not state the bid price. Aurora granted due diligence access to Organigram. Curaleaf says its own request for the same access was refused, and that that refusal constitutes "gross dereliction of their fiduciary duties" — Curaleaf's words, not an independent finding.
Curaleaf is also pointing to what the Organigram deal does not say. No break fee, no future management or board composition and no investor rights for BAT have been disclosed, according to Curaleaf. It also notes that neither Aurora nor Organigram addressed whether the Organigram transaction would be dilutive or accretive to shareholders. That is a material gap: a deal that grows the share count hands each existing holder a smaller piece of the same company.
Beyond the process complaint, Curaleaf characterises Organigram as significantly smaller, less liquid and burdened by what it calls a coming wave of share issuance and a weak record of cash generation. It describes BAT's own cannabis investment track record as disappointing. All of these are Curaleaf's characterisations of a competitor, made in the context of a contested takeover bid, and should be read as such.
Curaleaf shares closed 10.91% higher at $14.2300, on dollar volume of about $9.6 million.
Curaleaf says it will study the Organigram deal once more details become available. What it cannot do, by its own account, is improve its bid while Aurora refuses to let it conduct due diligence — which means the next move belongs to Aurora's board.