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WeedMD expands processing abilities

Toronto-based WeedMD Inc. said Monday that its fully-licensed facility in Aylmer, Ont., has secured a Health Canada licence amendment to include an additional processing area equipped with semi-automated packaging lines. The company says the newly-constructed processing room and packaging lines are installed, and currently undergoing final testing and calibration, with the expectation that they will be fully operational in early Q3-2019. "We expect this automation to increase our speed to market and drive costs lower,” said Keith Merker, CEO of WeedMD. “This will ensure our finished products get to market competitively and efficiently with an expected positive impact on WeedMD’s margins beginning over the second half of this year.”

- Staff

Valens appoints Jeffrey Fallows as president

Valens GroWorks Corp. said Monday it has appointed Jeffrey Fallows president, effective June. 1. The Kelowna, B.C.-based extraction company said Mr. Fallows will be focused on executing on domestic and international growth opportunities, capital markets strategy and assisting with the overall corporate strategy of the company. Before joining Valens, Mr. Fallows was a managing director at AltaCorp Capital Inc., where he was the head of the life sciences and diversified industries investment banking teams.

- Staff

Ayr Strategies Inc. now trading on NEO after SPAC transaction

Another U.S. multi-state operator (MSO) is trading on NEO Exchange at a $1-billion-plus valuation, following a qualifying transaction by NEO-listed Cannabis Strategies Acquisition Corp on Monday. The special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which was formed in 2017 by New York family office Mercer Park CB, L.P., has acquired five U.S. cannabis businesses: four in Nevada and one in Massachusetts. Monday’s qualifying transaction brings these assets –LivFree Wellness, LLC, Washoe Wellness, LLC, The Canopy NV, LLC, Sira Naturals, Inc. and Cannapunch of Nevada LLC – together into a new publicly traded company called Ayr Strategies Inc. The company finished its first day of trading up nearly 4 per cent, closing at $25.75 per subordinate voting share. “CSAC’s combined operations will employ over 325 people across three cultivation and production facilities and eight dispensaries across the states of Nevada and Massachusetts,” according to company’s final prospectus from February. Ayr Strategies, which is run by veterans of Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, will be the second large MSO, after Columbia Care Inc, to trade on the NEO. Columbia Care was likewise taken public through a SPAC, run by Canaccord Genuity Corp. Most other MSOs have listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange.

- Mark Rendell

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