Cannabis: Althea turns focus to Canada with new acquisition

Medicinal cannabis player Althea (ASX: AGH) rejoined the ASX boards today after going into a trading halt last week.

And it had some news; a pending $30m capital raising to fund the acquisition of Peak Processing Solutions, a Canadian cannabis extraction company.

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To fund the deal, Althea said it has received commitments from new and existing institutional shareholders in a “heavily oversubscribed” $30m round priced at $1 per share.

The company also released an investor presentation and its latest 4C quarterly filing. Shares in the company edged higher in morning trade to just over $1.20.

First-mover advantage

Althea is also staying busy on the global front; in addition to its UK doctor network for medicinal cannabis distribution, the company plans to open two more “cannabis destination” clinics in Q3.

It’s also in negotiations for a 50/50 joint venture to establish a “cultivation, extraction and manufacturing” facility in Portugal.

The company’s Peak acquisition to will offer Althea exposure to Canada’s more liberal regulatory environment, where both cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) products are both fully legalised at the federal level.

Althea says Peak is well positioned to grab a first-mover advantage in the Canadian market, pending new regulations effective from October which will allow the distribution and sale of cannabis-infused products such as edibles.

Peak’s operations include extraction of raw cannabis (both CBD and THC), as well as contract manufacturing of various cannabis-infused products including edibles, drinks and nutraceuticals.

Peak has also applied for “one of the industry’s first large-scale (infused) cannabis processor licences”.

With its $30m funding round, Althea will acquire Peak for $5.8m, with a further $8.32m allocated to the “Peak plant buildout” in Q4. Althea has also budgeted $8.21m to fund growth for its existing businesses in Australia and the UK.

In other ASX cannabis news today

Shares in Bod Australia (ASX: BDA) rose more than 15 per cent to 65 cents after the company reported significant growth in medicinal cannabis subscriptions. Monthly growth from June to July for its 5 per cent CBD MediCabilis product was 273 per cent, with volumes “expected to continue to grow over the coming months” pending some international distribution agreements.

And agtech company CropLogic Limited (ASX:CLI) announced it has entered into a joint venture to grow “premium CBD hemp-trimmed flower with experienced Oregonian agriculturalists, the Shephard Brothers”. The company said trimmed flower is modelled to have a higher return on investment than hemp biomass. Shares in CLI were up 1.6 per cent to 6.3 cents.