The Week In Cannabis: Tilray-Aphria Merge, Aurora Continues Layoffs, Financings, Earnings, M&A Benzinga 12/18/2020
Aphria (NASDAQ: APHA) and
Tilray (NASDAQ: TLRY). Benzinga spoke with Aphria CEO and chairman
Irwin D. Simon, who will maintain those two positions in the new company, and Tilray CEO
Brendan Kennedy, who will serve in the new corporation’s board of directors. The executives shared details on how the deal came to be, and their expectations for the future, which, they say, doesn’t include massive layoffs.
Cantor Fitzgerald’s analyst Pablo Zuanic praised the merger. The Canadian cannabis sector is in need of consolidation due to the oversupply problems and “historically low ï¬ower retail prices,” he explained.
Red White & Bloom Brands Inc. (CSE:RWB) (OTCQX:RWBYF) is poised to acquire a THC cultivation license in Illinois alongside certain assets.
The Toronto-based will pick up the issued and outstanding shares of Cannabis Capital Partners Inc. (CCP), by issuing up to 22 million common shares to CCP s shareholders.
The acquisition allows RWB to concurrently purchase Shelbyville-based cultivation and manufacturing operation spanning 23,572 square feet, alongside related inventory and 2 acres of land.
By obtaining one of twenty-one original super licenses, the Prairie State issued, RWB has an option to expand the operation to include 220,000 square feet of THC cultivation canopy, bringing it to a total of approximately 450,000 square feet of cannabis operations.
Cannabis stocks traded down this week, despite a series of financing announcements and other good news, including a new bill from Congress.
GrowGeneration Corp. (NASDAQ:GRWG) wants to raise $125 million via a public offering. The offering was then upsized to $150 million on Wednesday, offering 5 million shares at a price of $30.00 per share.
Weedmaps is going public via a merger with
Silver Spike Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:SSPK), while
LeafLink closed a $40 million Series C funding round led by Founders Fund.
“Money keeps flowing into the cannabis space as we saw the huge $1.5 billion valuation given to the Weedmaps deal with the Silver Spike SPAC. Not only that, GrowGeneration supersized its offering from $125 million to $150 million. Despite the inconsistent stock performance, there is still a big demand for investment in this industry,” Debra Borchard, editor in chief of Green Market Report, told Benzinga.