British behemoth Imperial Tobacco announced it will invest $123M (via convertible debentures worth a 19.9% stake) in Auxly Cannabis Group, formerly known as Cannabis Wheaton, founded by Canopy‘s first ousted co-founder, Chuck Rifici. (I profiled Rifici and the company in Leafly in 2017).
The Star, Leafly
- Compared with Altria’s $2.4B buy into Cronos last year, the investment is cautious.
Globe and Mail - The deal will give Auxly access to Imperial’s vaporizer technology ahead of extracts legalization this fall
Bloomberg - Auxly’s stoke rose 20% on news of the transaction.
Financial Post - The British company is not related to Imperial Tobacco Canada.
Quick Hits
- Bruce Linton recalled RBC “firing” him as a client when he had $30M in the bank because he was a “reputational risk” as CEO of a licensed producer.
Twitter—Max Cherney - CIBC slashed its estimates on Aphria in anticipation of writedowns.
Twitter—Amber Kanwar
