Leading US marijuana firms list shares on Canadian stock exchange

Three top American cannabis firms made their trading debuts on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) this week, continuing the frenzy of U.S.-based marijuana companies turning to Canada’s public markets to raise capital.

Here’s a quick rundown of what investors need to know:

 

• Multistate cannabis operator Acreage Holdings listed its shares under the ticker symbol ACRG.U after the closing of its reverse takeover (RTO) of Toronto-based Applied Inventions Management. New York-based Acreage, valued at more than $2 billion, raised $314 million ahead of its trading debut. The company grabbed headlines earlier this year when it appointed former House Speaker John Boehner to its board and landed a $119 million raise – the largest private financing in the U.S. cannabis industry. Acreage shares closed at 24.25 Canadian dollars ($18.44) Friday, up more than 19% for the day.
• Arizona-based Harvest Health & Recreation made its trading debut as HARV. The firm, which also pursued an RTO, raised $218 million ahead of its listing. Harvest has cultivation and dispensary licenses and operations in 10 states. The company’s stock closed Friday at CA$7.60, gaining more than 8% for the day.
• Denver-based MJardin Group listed its shares under the symbol MJAR and also announced this week that it had closed a CA$278 million deal to acquire Toronto-based cannabis producer GrowForce. MJardin operates 23 cultivation facilities across the U.S. and Canada. The firm’s stock closed Friday at $8.27, up 6% for the day.

Nearly 50 U.S. cannabis operators have listed their shares on the CSE this year, according to data from the exchange. The majority of those have been through reverse takeovers – a maneuver in which a company acquires a publicly traded shell company to obtain a listing, rather than pursue a traditional initial public offering route.

A number of other companies have announced RTO plans that are expected to close in the coming months, including:

• Chicago-based Cresco Labs
• Denver-based Dixie Brands, which has obtained conditional approval from the CSE to list
• Oakland, California-based Harborside
• Denver-based LivWell Enlightened Health
• Phoenix-based 4Front Holdings

Lisa Bernard-Kuhn may be reached at [email protected]