One of the big stories this year has been the deployment of capital raised outside of the United States into its cannabis industry. Three Canadian public companies that have invested in, acquired or started operations across nine states were part of the Exclusive Public Companies Symposium at New West Summit in Oakland on October 13-14th. The goal of the event was to introduce leading public cannabis companies to investors interested in the sector.
Among the 10 companies that presented were iAnthus Capital (CSE: IAN) (OTC: ITHUF), Liberty Health Sciences (CSE: LHS) (OTC: LHSIF) and MPX Bioceutical (CSE: MPX) (OTC: MPXEF). The venue allowed the CEOs of each of these companies to discuss the backgrounds of their relatively new companies and to share their growth strategies. Green Flower Media captured the presentations and Q&A, which we have included below along with a link to the slides.
iAnthus Capital
Hadley Ford, CEO of iAnthus, which operates in Colorado, New Mexico, Massachusetts, New York, Florida and Vermont, described how the company targets new markets with regulatory oligopolies or companies in mature markets with strong operations and positive cash flow. Ford, who detailed his management team, suggested that well located dispensaries in restricted license markets should generate $10-12mm annually, and expects that iAnthus could have a portfolio of up to 25 new dispensaries by 2019.
View presentation slides
Liberty Health Sciences
George Scorsis, the CEO of Liberty, which operates in Florida and has a pending cultivation application in Ohio, where the company has partnered with the Schottenstein family, spent most of his presentation discussing the Florida opportunity. The company, which has partnered with Aphria (TSX: APH) (OTC: APHQF), which owns 38% of Liberty, plans to focus exclusively on greenhouse production. Scorsis pointed to a population of over 6mm in Florida with qualifying conditions, a good range of products that includes edibles and the ability of license holders to open up to 25 dispensaries as favorable characteristics of the market. The company, which offers a hybrid wholesale/retail model, is on track to be able to produce 13mm grams by early 2019
View presentation slides
MPX Bioceutical
CEO Scott Boyes of MPX Bioceutical (formerly Canadian Bioceutical) described how the company has raised $38mm this year and arranged a $25mm credit facility, deploying capital and using shares to acquire a large cash flowing business in Arizona, a cultivation and production operation in Nevada, a greenfield vertically integrated operation in Massachusetts with pending exposure in Maryland. The company has submitted a license application in Ohio and is also eyeing New Jersey and Michigan. MPX is also pursuing a license in Canada. Boyes described the company’s 9mm gram annual production goal (10.85mm including concentrates) and the company’s relationships with MJardin to improve cultivation yields and Israel’s Panaxia to develop pharmaceutical-grade smokeless products.
View presentation slides
