PharmaCan IPO Indication of Interest in Canadian MMJ

Canadian medical marijuana holding and investing company PharmaCan Capital is scheduled to go public next week, highlighting investor interest in a market expected to hit C$1.3 billion (US$1.12 billion) in sales in the coming years.

The company – which has a stake in eight medical marijuana producers, including five licensed by Health Canada – will go public through a reverse takeover of a listed entity on the Toronto Stock Exchange, according to Reuters. PharmaCan owns parts of Whistler Medical Marijuana Co. and Peace Naturals Project and fully owns The Zone Produce, a licensed producer in British Columbia.

At least five other marijuana companies have gone public this year in Canada, according to Reuters. Investors are “elbowing for a position” in the industry, Daniel Pearlstein, the life sciences analyst at M Partners, a Canadian investment bank, told the news service.

“The medical marijuana industry in Canada is in a state of competitive capitalism,” he said.

American investors, however, need to beware of sinking money into Canadian marijuana companies. A Reuters report in October noted that doing so may be seen as a violation of U.S. money laundering and drug trafficking laws. A spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration also said the agency is “most interested in those types of activities.”