Florida, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Texas have chosen to negotiate separate settlements with manufacturers.

Both manufacturers have chosen not to make the contested MSA payments to the tri-state since June 2015.

Reynolds said his position remains that Imperial bought the brands and that ITG should make the payments.

The estimated payout for fiscal 2020 for the four brands is $ 40 million in Texas, $ 32 million in Florida, and $ 10 million in Minnesota. Florida said when filing its complaint that its overall disputed amount was $ 92.6 million.

However, industry analyst Michael Lavery with Piper Sandler said in December that Reynolds’ combined MSA financial obligations to three states could be as high as $ 409 million: $ 207 million for Texas, $ 135 million for Texas. dollars for Florida and $ 47 million for Minnesota.

“Ongoing costs could weigh on future profits (British American Tobacco),” Lavery said. “We expect further calls to continue in 2021.”

The Reynolds-Imperial deal included language calling on ITG to use its “best reasonable efforts” to reach an MSA settlement with Florida.

Imperial retorted that it had not agreed to take on the payments and was relieved of its payment responsibility since it was unable to come to an agreement with then-attorney general Pam Bondi. , before the close of simultaneous purchases.