Canada is scheduled to legalize recreational cannabis in 2018 and dealmaking in the corporate sector is already off to a busy start.
First, we have The Green Organic Dutchman (TGOD), a licensed producer with 970,000 ft.² of available growing space in Ontario and Quebec. On Friday, mega-grower Aurora Cannabis announced plans to purchase an almost 18 percent stake in TGOD for $55 million (approximately $44,253,968 USD). TGOD is preparing an IPO for March.
The partnership between Aurora and TGOD includes a supply deal that will allow Aurora to purchase up to 20 percent of TGOD’s annual harvest. For the deal to be fully executed, TGOD is required to list on the stock exchange.
Aurora has been busy cultivating other partnerships as well. Earlier this month, the Edmonton-based grower finalized a deal with a Danish tomato producer to cultivate and sell medicinal cannabis to legal European markets. Those territories include Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Iceland.
If that wasn’t enough from Aurora, the company has been actively involved in a hostile takeover bid for CanniMed Therapeutics — a licensed producer based out of Saskatchewan. Aurora has purchased 207,800 shares of CanniMed in 2018.
On the West Coast, Victoria-based Emerald Health Therapeutics has reported an unnamed investor purchased a $25-million piece of the B.C. cultivator. Also, in Leamington, Ontario, Aphria Inc. closed a $115-million bought-deal share offering, partially to expand the company’s cultivation abilities.
Aphria also made a strategic business partnership at the end of last year, entering into a deal with Canada’s largest pharmacy chain Shoppers Drug Mart. Upon receiving permission from Health Canada, the retailer will sell Aphria’s cannabis products online.
Canada is expected to fully legalize recreational cannabis in July 2018.
credit:marijuana.com
