Key Takeaways:
- Columbia Care began Cultivation at its newly Acquired New York Facility. The Company also Transitioned its Downtown Boston Dispensary to Adult-Use.
- Cresco Labs Announced Plans to Shift Away from Third-Party Distribution in California.
- Village Farms International Entered an Option Agreement to Acquire 80% of a Dutch Cannabis Production License Applicant (Leli Holland). In addition, they also Announced that Its Pure Sunfarms Unit Signed had Completed its First Export from Canada to Australia.
- Trulieve Announced It had Closed the Harvest Health & Recreation Acquisition. The Company also Announced Licensing Expansions with Bhang.
- Awakn Head of Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy for Addiction, Prof. Celia Morgan; Spoke with Benzinga about Ketamine’s Potential Importance.
This week was another week full of action in the Cannabis Sector; the movers and shakers of the industry were at it again with some key announcements and developments. We begin by looking at Village Farms International, Inc. (NASDAQ: VFF), founded in 1989 and headquartered in Delta, Canada. The Company was formerly known as Village Farms Canada Inc. and changed its name to Village Farms International, Inc. in December 2009.
Village Farms International produces, markets, and distributes greenhouse-grown tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers in North America. The Company operates through three segments: Produce Business, Energy Business, and Cannabis and Hemp Business, which produces and supplies cannabis products.
On Monday, September 27, Village Farms International began the week with a lot of optimism by being mentioned in an Investopedia article that listed the Top Marijuana Stocks to watch on the Nasdaq in October 2021. In the article, Village Farms was listed amongst the fastest growing marijuana Stocks on the Nasdaq. And this was due to the intriguing quarterly report that the Company filed on August 9, whereby they were the top-selling licensed cannabis producer in Ontario.
After being mentioned in the Investopedia article amongst the fastest-growing marijuana stocks on the Nasdaq, Village Farms International, followed by asserting that their mention wasn’t just by luck, but they deserved it. On Tuesday, 28th, just a day after the article, Village Farms International announced it had entered into an option agreement whereby the Company had received the irrevocable right to acquire an 80% ownership interest in Netherlands-based Leli Holland B.V. upon payment of the option of EUR50,000. The Dutch Supply Chain Experiment, which is scheduled to operate for a minimum of four years with the potential for national expansions, is expected to be the first legal recreational cannabis market in Europe
Village Farms International continued the good week by announcing on Wednesday, 29th, that its Canadian cannabis subsidiary, Pure Sunfarms, had completed its first export shipment of cannabis. Pure Sunfarms supplied a variety of high-quality, high-THC dried flower products to Village Farms’ minority interest investee, Australia-based Altum International Pty Ltd. The shipment was the first international export shipment for Pure Sunfarms and its first shipment to Australia under a three-year supply agreement with Altum.
Village Farms closed the week with an announcement on September 30 that the Company will participate in the A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners Virtual Fall Consumer Cannabis Conference. As part of the conference, Mandesh Dosanjh, President and Chief Executive Officer of Village Farms’ wholly-owned Canadian cannabis subsidiary, Pure Sunfarms, will participate in a panel entitled Canadian Cannabis & the Role of Innovation to Drive Growth on Tuesday, October 5, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. E.T.
It was indeed a busy week for Village Farms International and its subsidiaries. The week shed some light on why Village Farm is garnering significant attention on the Cannabis Sector.
Cresco Labs Inc. (OTCMKTS: CRLBF)
Cresco Labs Inc. is a Company that has appeared regularly in our previous weekly articles. In our recent article, we had a roundup on how Cresco Labs closed a $90 million acquisition deal of three high-performing Pennsylvania dispensaries.
After last week’s acquisitions announcements, Cresco had more reports follow this week; On Thursday, September 30, Cresco announced its decision to exit agreements under which Cresco Labs served as the exclusive distributor of particular third-party cannabis branded products in California. This decision marked the latest step in Cresco Labs’ multi-year strategy to increase profitability and shift toward owned-brand distribution in the USA, the world’s largest and most competitive cannabis market.
On the same day, Cresco Labs also announced that it would report financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2021, on Thursday, November 11, 2021, before the market opened. The Company also provided a link for their third-quarter 2021 earnings conference call. Investors and other persons of interest can sign up to receive their event joining details.
Trulieve Cannabis Corp. (OTCMKTS: TCNNF)
Trulieve Cannabis Corp. is also another Medical Cannabis Company mentioned severally in our previous weekly roundup articles. The Company is one of the big players in the Cannabis Sector, with an estimated Market Cap of 5.1 Billion dollars.
On Thursday, September 30, 2021, Trulieve announced that they had signed an expanded licensing agreement to manufacture and distribute Bhang’s award-winning, THC-infused chocolate products in all Trulieve markets. Initially, the products will be manufactured and distributed in the Florida and Massachusetts markets. In addition, Trulieve said that Bhang’s products will be available in their dispensaries; the products would also be sold through Trulieve’s robust sales and distribution efforts.
The following day, Friday, October 1, Trulieve had some big announcement. In their statement, the Company reported that they had completed acquiring Arizona-based Harvest Health & Recreation Inc. (CNSX: HARV). The US$2.1 billion deal was first announced in May, and this mega-deal now makes Trulieve the largest and most profitable cannabis operation in the U.S., according to the Company’s announcement.
With the completed acquisition, Florida-based Trulieve now owns 150 retail dispensaries across the country and more than 3 million square feet of cultivation space. “The closing of this transaction marks a transformational milestone in our company’s history and positions Trulieve as the leading medical and adult-use cannabis operator in the U.S.,” said company CEO Kim Rivers.
As a result of the deal, Harvest shares will be delisted from the Canadian Securities Exchange at the close of trading on October 4, 2021, noted Green Report.
Columbia Care Inc. (OTCMKTS: CCHWF)
Columbia Care Inc. cultivates, manufactures, and provides cannabis-based health and wellness solutions. The Company holds licenses in 19 jurisdictions in the United States and the European Union, where it operates cultivation facilities, manufacturing facilities, and retail dispensaries. The Company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
On Wednesday, September 29, Columbia Care reported that the Company had received approval from the New York State Department of Health to commence cultivation and processing operations at its new 34-Acre facility in eastern Long Island, New York.
Columbia Care reported that the first phase of Cultivation will entail 30,000 square feet of the canopy to begin a perpetual harvest cycle in the fourth quarter. Subsequent phases will utilize more of the 740,000 square feet of functional greenhouse space, and 200,000 square feet of incremental grow capacity. The expanded square footage will support the growing medical market, with potential inclusion in the forthcoming adult-use program, with canopy caps expected. It will also eventually provide cultivation space for potential social equity business collaborations as New York’s cannabis industry evolves.
A day after Columbia Care announced the beginning of Cultivation at its new New York Facility, the Company was on the headlines again with recent developments. On September 30, Columbia Care announced that they had received approval from the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) and the Boston Cannabis Board (BCB) to commence operations as Cannabist at 21 Milk Street in downtown Boston. The new venture will be co-located at Columbia care adult-use and medical dispensary, previously known as Patriot Care.
Awakn Life Sciences Corp. (OTCMKTS: AWKNF)
Awakn Life Sciences Corp. is another company that has been mentioned regularly in our previous articles. The company research, develop, and deliver psychedelic therapeutics to treat addiction and other mental health conditions in the United Kingdom and Europe.
In the previous article, we covered the news about Awakn announcement of acquiring the exclusive rights to the data from the phase IIa Bristol Imperial MDMA in Alcoholism Study (BIMA) from Imperial College London, which has one of the world’s leading psychedelics research centers.
This week Awakn, head of Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy for Addiction, Prof. Celia Morgan, spoke with Benzinga about Ketamine’s potential importance to the therapeutic processes during psychological therapy.
Dr. Celia Morgan, a professor of psychopharmacology at the University of Exeter in the U.K., said, “With [ketamine’s] unique subjective effects, where you have a kind of out-of-body experience, often people have a different perspective on their life. And that’s when you give ketamine alongside psychological therapy. That’s what enables it to work well. And it catalyzes these therapeutic processes because it gives you a completely different perspective.”
