Aurora buys Canada’s leading cannabis lab for CA$115 million

Aurora buys cannabis lab, Aurora buys Canada’s leading cannabis lab for CA$115 million

Aurora Cannabis is continuing its aggressive buying spree, snapping up what one analyst called the “granddaddy of cannabis science in Canada,” Anandia Laboratories.

Aurora agreed to buy the lab in an all-stock deal worth 115 million Canadian dollars ($88 million).

So far this year, Aurora’s voracious buying spree has included its CA$1.2 billion purchase of CanniMed Therapeutics and an agreement to buy MedReleaf for CA$3.2 billion.

Anandia is one of Canada’s 39 licensed laboratories.

The Vancouver, British Columbia, company says its testing services will operate independently of Aurora.

Anandia provides testing services for more than 30 licensed medical marijuana producers.

Mitchell Osak, managing director of accounting and tax advisory firm Grant Thornton in Toronto, said the acquisition is a science and intellectual property play.

“To win in medical, you will have to treat it as a pharmaceutical business, which means you will need tremendous skill and IP,” he said. “The science is ultimately what’s going to deliver the higher margins and higher revenue in this industry.”

Aurora’s chief corporate officer, Cam Battley, said the acquisition moves the company more into the pharmaceutical space.

“The depth of the science here takes us in a direction that we’ve committed to going in, and that’s toward intellectual property,” Battley said.

Aurora Cannabis is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ACB.

Matt Lamers can be reached at mattl@mjbizdaily.com

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