Ontario marijuana cultivator sells shares of Arizona grower for CA$20 million

Hoping to keep the Toronto Stock Exchange at bay, a federally licensed cannabis grower in Ontario announced Friday it is selling its shares in an Arizona cannabis company for 20 million Canadian dollars ($16.15 million).

Ontario-based Aphria said it would sell its shares in Copperstate Farms, a medical marijuana grower in Snowflake, Arizona, to Liberty Health Sciences, a licensed MMJ cultivator in Alachua, Florida, according to CBC News.

The move follows a statement from TMX Group Limited, which operates the TSE, that it might delist stocks of marijuana companies with operations in the United States.

Aphria trades on the TSE under the symbol APH.

Aphria holds a minority stake in Liberty Health Sciences.

A spokesperson told CBC News that Aphria is “exploring and considering strategic alternatives with respect to its U.S. cannabis related interests, including the possible divestiture of its investments to strategic, long-term and committed investors in the cannabis industry.”

Copperstate owns about 1.7 million square feet of greenhouses, of which approximately 348,000 square feet are used for cannabis cultivation, according to the CBC.