Weekly Roundup on the Cannabis Sector: Key Takeaways
- Awakn Life Sciences Announces Closing Of Acquisition Of Leading Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Clinic In Norway. The company was also selected as one of TechRound’s Top 21 Mental Health Companies for 2021.
- Tilray Reports Q1 Earnings. Revenue grew 38% from a Year Ago.
- Truss CBD USA, A Molson Coors And HEXO Corp Joint Venture in Expansion of Veryvell CBD Beverages.
- Akerna Closes $17 Million Acquisition of 365 Cannabis.
- Cannabis firms Ayr Wellness Inc., Curaleaf Holdings Inc., and The Parent Company each Announced Acquisition Deals on Monday for $80 million, $67 million, and $65.2 million, respectively.
It was another action-packed week in the cannabis sector, as more companies announced mergers and acquisitions. In this week’s roundup, we begin with Tilray, Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY); Tilray is one of the Canabis Sector’s major players. The company has an estimated market capitalization of 4.9 billion dollars.
This week Trilay was in the headlines after the company reported its Q1 earnings. Investors, traders pay close attention to Tirlay quarterly in order to gauge the sector.
In their first fiscal quarterly report filed on Thursday, October 7, 2021, Trilay reported that their Net revenue increased by 43% to $168 million from $117 million in the prior-year quarter. The increase was driven by a 38% growth in net cannabis revenue to $70 million, net beverage alcohol revenue of $15 million following the SweetWater acquisition on November 25, 2020, and wellness revenue of $15 million from Manitoba Harvest.
The company also reported an Adjusted EBITDA of $12.7 million, a 58% growth compared to the prior-year quarter, and the tenth consecutive quarter of Adjusted positive EBITDA. If Adjusted EBITDA were normalized for Aphria’s production costs, the metric would have been closer to $17 million.
However, the company also reported a net loss of $34.6 million, slightly higher than a net loss of $21.7 million in the prior-year quarter.
Awakn Life Sciences Corp. (OTCMKTS: AWKNF)
Awakn Life Sciences Corp. is a company that is making a great name for itself in the psychedelic sector.
On Thursday, TechRound UK’s fastest-growing tech and startup news site selected Awakn as one of TechRound’s Top 21 Mental Health Companies for the year 2021. Awakn responded by saying, “…We are honored to be included on this list with so many great companies working to improve mental health around the world.”
This selection came just two days after Awakn Life Sciences had announced the finalization and the closing of the acquisition deal of a leading Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy clinic In Norway. In our September 21, 2021 article, we reported how Awakn had announced that they had signed a binding share exchange agreement to acquire a 100% interest in Axonklinikken AS (Axon), a leading ketamine-assisted psychotherapy clinic in Norway.
As part of the transaction, Axon was to be renamed ‘Awakn Oslo AS.’ and Axon’s majority shareholder Dr. Lowan Stewart was to be appointed as the Regional Director for the Nordics and the Managing Director. On Tuesday, October 5, 2021, Awakn Life Sciences Corp. announced the closure of this acquisition. They also announced that they would rename Axon to ‘Awakn Oslo AS.’ and appoint Axon’s majority shareholder Dr. Lowan Stewart as the Regional Director for the Nordics and the Managing Director, just as previously agreed.
The closing of this acquisition deal came a few days after Awakn announced that it had acquired the exclusive rights to the data from the phase IIa Bristol Imperial MDMA in Alcoholism Study (BIMA) from Imperial College London. As we mentioned in our September 28, 2021 article, this data will assist Awakn’s progress by enabling a better design and more efficient execution of its clinical program. Awakn will now accelerate its clinical research into a phase IIb randomized controlled trial (RCT) in the U.K. This is part of its strategy to secure marketing authorization for MDMA to treat AUD in both the U.K. and the European Union, a 400 million person territory.
HEXO Corp. (NASDAQ: HEXO)
On October 6, 2021, Truss CBD USA, a joint venture by Molson Coors Beverage Company (NYSE: TAP) and HEXO Corp., announced the expansion of Veryvell, a line of hemp-derived CBD and adaptogen beverages, to 17 States (Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia) in the United States. The Veryvell line offers non-alcohol, adaptogenic, hemp-derived CBD sparkling waters and unflavored beverage drops. All Veryvell products use broad-spectrum hemp and contain <0.3% THC.
Residents living in these States can get Veryvell delivered right to their door via direct-to-consumer online purchase at the Truss CBD USA website.
Akerna Corp. (NASDAQ: KERN)
On October 4, 2021, Akerna announced that it had finally closed the $17 million acquisition deal of 365 Cannabis. The acquisition combines Akerna’s compliance gateway and feature-rich reporting with 365 Cannabis’ Microsoft ERP solution to create the cannabis sector’s most complete portfolio of tax, financials, operations, reporting, and compliance systems, crucial to scale as the industry grows and matures.
Other Cannabis Mergers & Acquisitions
On Monday, October 4th Miami-based multistate operator Ayr Wellness, Inc. (OTCMKTS: AYRWF) announced the purchase closure of PA Natural Medicine, LLC, which operates three dispensaries in Bloomsburg, State College, and Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. The company said that those dispensaries would be rebranded to “Ayr” by the end of the year. The transaction terms include upfront consideration of $80 million, made up of $20 million in stock, $25 million in seller notes, and $35 million in cash. An earn-out based on 2021 Adjusted EBITDA is payable in Q1 2022.
Massachusetts’ Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (OTCMKTS: CURLF) said that it had completed the acquisition of Los Sueños Farms on Monday, which at 66 acres is the largest outdoor grow in Colorado. In a statement, Boris Jordan, executive chairman of Curaleaf, said the “deal provides Curaleaf with a high-quality, efficient, and low-cost supply of biomass to support our wholesale and retail customers in Colorado.” Overall, the newly expanded cultivation capacity will allow Curaleaf to serve better Colorado’s $2.2 billion annual cannabis market opportunity. The $67 million deal includes land, equipment, a 1,800 plant indoor grow, and two retail cannabis dispensaries.
Also, on Monday, California-based The Parent Company (TPCO Holding Corp) (NEO: GRAM) announced a $62.5 million deal to acquire 100% equity of a retail dispensary and a delivery operator, Coastal Holding Company, LLC, for $16.2 million in cash with considerations of up to $40 million in equity of The Parent Company upon the completion of milestone events, the company announced this in a press release. The deal also includes a $9 million option to acquire the remaining equity of a dispensary that Coastal currently holds a minority interest in.
