Escrow Watch: Elixinol boss says he's not selling his 56pc - yet

Escrow Watch is Stockhead’s fortnightly recap of the small cap companies releasing shares that have been locked away in escrow.

Escrow refers to shares that are held by early investors or directors restrained from selling for a year or two.

The release of escrowed shares can have a big impact on a stock’s price. If the holders choose to take up their right to sell – the shares you own can fall.

Since Wednesday 15 small caps have released, or are set to release, over 326 million shares between them.

Code	Company	Date of Release	Shares	% of company
EXR	Elixir energy	17 December	3,034,964	0.61%
CBY	Cantebury Resources	18 December	24,063,192	29.40%
JAN	Janison Education Group	19 December	41,891,507	23.07%
CNL	Celamin Holdings	20 December	3,786,760	2.54%
RLG	RooLife Group	20 December	15,238,095	5.50%
BUB	Bubs Australia	20 December	38,401,340	7.46%
CPH	Creso Pharma	20 December	2,053,043	1.20%
IDX	Integral Diagnostics	24 December	776,720	0.04%
BIN	Bingo Industries	24 December	18,538,985	2.84%
JDR	Jadar Lithium	27 December	50,000,000	10.41%
EHH	Eagle Health	27 December	200,000	0.06%
GMR	Golden Rim Resources	30 December	3,951,323	0.20%
TGM	Theta Gold Mines	31 December	46,645,701	10.68%
EOF	Ecofibre	31 December	2,259,212	0.72%
EXL	Elixinol Global	8 January	77,870,572	56.47%

The biggest one is from Elixinol Global (ASX:EXL).

Founder and former CEO Paul Benhaim has left the company, resigning from the role of chief innovation officer, which he took up after being replaced in the chiefdom-ship by the company’s lawyer, Stratos Karousos.

Karousos waited until October before unveiling some big changes, from getting out of Japan and cutting costs, to scaling the company’s ambitions back to hemp-derived CBD from a broader medical+hemp strategy.

Benhaim, who remains on the board, says he resigned to spend more time with his family and notes that other investors in Elixinol will no doubt be interested in what he plans to do with his 56 per cent of the company.

“I would like to recognise that the market may be interested in my intentions regarding my trust’s 54,623,008 ordinary shares held under mandatory escrow which will be released from ASX imposed escrow on 8 January 2020,” he said.

“I will not sell more than 10 per cent (5,462,300) of my holding for six months following release from escrow, and no more than 10 per cent of my holding in the following six months after that.”

At Janison Education Group (ASX:JAN), 23 per cent of the company is coming out of escrow as it hits its two year anniversary on the ASX, while Canterbury Resources (ASX:CBY) is celebrating its 12-month anniversary with the release of 29 per cent of the company.