Australia is a small but emerging medical cannabis market that has captured a lot of investor attention recently. Several publicly-traded companies have been rallying in 2017, and the first and only licensed company, Cann Group Limited (ASX: CAN), posted an impressive first day of trading following its IPO, more than doubling to A$0.645, It has advanced further in early trading on May 5th as well, reaching as high as A$0.747, a 149% gain from the IPO of A$13.5mm at A$0.30 and a market cap of A$83m.
The company, which received the first Australian Office of Drug Control (ODC) medical cannabis research license in February and the first cultivation license in March, brought in a key investor, Canada’s Aurora Cannabis (TSXV: ACB) (OTC: ACBFF), which subscribed for 19.9% of the entire company in the IPO. Another interesting investor who disclosed participation in the IPO was Australia-based hedge fund Tribeca Investment Partners. According to Bloomberg, the fund, which rode big bets in the cannabis sector to help produce a 145% return in 2016, bought IPO shares in its portfolio, which has about 3% of its A$3 billion under management in the sector.
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