With Canada’s legalization of cannabis right around the corner, the country’s top cannabis companies have quickly outgrown their national borders, and appear to be set for global conquest.
Despite the market buzzkill that followed US Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s crackdown on previously lenient federal marijuana laws, it’s clear that legal cannabis stocks will live on with or without the US market’s involvement.
Instead, the sector has regained its momentum by focusing itself internationally in places like Australia and New Zealand, Latin America, Europe, and most recently Jamaica. Several legitimate players are branching outside of just North America for their wares, including Aphria Inc. (TSX: APH) (OTC: APHQF), Aurora Cannabis Inc. (TSX: ACB) (OTC: ACBFF), Canopy Growth Inc. (TSX: WEED) (OTC: TWMJF), Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CRON) (TSX.V: MJN), and MYM Nutraceuticals Inc. (CSE: MYM) (OTC: MYMMF).
With an expected $22.6 billion market projected in Canada alone, Canadian cannabis companies already have a few years’ head start on their international competitors—and now things are really starting to heat up as they take their operations abroad.
Whether it be Aurora Cannabis Inc. with its multiple EU markets, or MYM Nutraceuticals Inc. and its strategic mega-projects in Australia and recently also in Colombia—Canadian companies are now covering most of the globe.
CANADA’S INTERNATIONAL TAKEOVER
“All eyes are on Canada right now, not only for what’s coming (with recreational legalization), but also because Canada has basically defined the standards on how to do a medical cannabis industry,” said Pierre Debs, managing director of Spektrum Cannabis GmbH, a subsidiary of Canopy Growth Inc. in an interview with Financial Post.
Debs expects to import up to 200kg of dried Canadian cannabis flower monthly into Germany by the end of 2018—rising from the current 150kgs per month. Canopy also has begun work on converting an orchid greenhouse in the central Danish city of Odense, and is building eight greenhouses outside of the Jamaican capital of Kingston for export to other Caribbean counties.
Not to be outdone, when Aurora Cannabis Inc. took over CanniMed late last year, it bolstered its cannabis research perfectly to complement the company’s European foray into the markets of Denmark, Italy, and Germany.
When Aphria Inc. saw the value of the Italian market, it felt the $826 million price tag it paid for cannabis firm Nuuvera Inc. was well worth it, because it owned one of the only seven licenses to import medical cannabis into Italy—a market that Nuuvera CEO Lorne Abony claims could be worth “$9 billion larger than the combination of the recreational and medical markets in Canada.”
Cronos Group Inc. recently became the first cannabis company listed on the NASDAQ, but it made headlines earlier in October, when it signed a five-year exclusive supply contract with German pharmaceutical giant G. Pohl-Boskamp GmbH & Co. KG—giving the company potential access to a network of 12,000 German pharmacies.
“When you step back and look at sheer numbers and population … it is unrealistic to believe that (Canada) would be more than 25 per cent (of Cronos’ business), once we go over three years,” said Mike Gorenstein, Cronos’ chief executive told Financial Post.
Regulations regarding medical cannabis vary around the world, but are changing fast. Less than a dozen countries have legalized medicinal cannabis at the federal level, but as of last year that includes beyond Germany, also Australia, Mexico, Colombia, and many others that are considering legislation changes. Canadian companies, stocked with cash and expertise, have a head start on the rest of the world, and a rare window of opportunity over the next several years to tap these underdeveloped markets and make themselves indispensable.
But while the majors are boldly and expensively accruing European interests, mid-tier MYM Nutraceuticals Inc. has strategically set itself up on three continents: Canada (North America), Australia, and Colombia (South America). Each project, it appears that MYM is taking part in, is something quite big.
MYM’S SOUTHERN-HEMISPHERE DOMINANCE
In Quebec, Canada, MYM already has two significant projects, including the massive 1.5 million-square-foot state-of-the-art facility in the municipality of Weedon. But it was the joint venture on a 1.2 million-square-foot facility in New South Wales, Australia that truly put MYM Nutraceuticals on the international stage.
Most recently in January, the company made a bold move into Latin America, putting the MYM mark on three different continents, and adding a significant second Southern-Hemisphere operation, with leading Colombian medical cannabis company NEWCANNA.
It was through this strategic deal that MYM opened itself up to a low-cost production environment, and a massive growing space where indigenous growers already had a production capacity of approximately 217,500 kg of high-grade cannabis for processing and export worldwide, but it’s the expectation of advanced improvements brought in by MYM and its partners to the agreed lands that total 7,400 acres of cultivation property, that production is expected to surpass 1,000,000 kg of cannabis within the next two years.
Compared to even its controlled climate on its Quebec facilities, MYM sees the high mountains of Colombia as a perfect climate to cultivate cannabis, which would allow them to keep their productions costs down to even a fraction of their already-low production costs in Quebec, Canada.
However, it’s not just through raw materials and plants that MYM Nutraceuticals sees its future profits coming from. The Weedon facility has in its plans a world class research facility and school, and the company seeks to further develop out its own brands and products beyond just the plant matter.
MYM and its partners propose to transform their raw materials into medicinal oils, tinctures and a variety of products. Paired with Weedon, a second research and development laboratory for the design and creation of new products, in-house analysis and testing, and the refinement of new and unique delivery systems is planned in Colombia as well.
POTENTIAL COMPARABLES
Aphria Inc. (TSX: APH) (OTC: APHQF)
Aphria is one of Canada’s lowest cost licensed cannabis producers, specializing in the production, suppy, and sale of medical cannabis. The company offers sativa, indica, and hybrid medical marijuana products, as well as cannabis oils. It also provides support services in the form of medical consultations, group therapies, and rehabilitation to veteran and first responders. The company sells its products through its online store or phones, as well as engages in the wholesale shipping of medical marijuana plant cuttings and dried buds to other licensed producers. Aphria Inc. is headquartered in Leamington, Canada.
Aurora Cannabis (TSX: ACB) (OTC: ACBFF)
Aurora Cannabis boasts the second highest square footage approved for cannabis production in Canada. Together with its subsidiaries, Aurora produces and distributes medical marijuana products in Canada. The company’s products consist of dried cannabis and cannabis oil.
Aurora is the only cannabis producer located in the province of Alberta, giving the company a cost advantage through its free use of fresh mountain-fed water used on site, and housed under the lowest corporate tax rates and power rates in Canada. Capitalizing on numerous farm credit programs provided by the province, Aurora has positioned itself as arguably the lowest cost-per-gram licensed producer in Canada. Aurora became a licensed producer in 2015, and is based in Edmonton, Alberta.
Canopy Growth Inc. (TSX: WEED) (OTC: TWMJF)
Owners of the Tweed brand of cannabis products, Canopy Growth is a multi-licensed, geographically diverse marijuana producer, described as “one of the world’s — and Canada’s first — premier exporters of marijuana” by the Financial Post in 2016. Canopy currently has a combined growing platform of over 665,000 sq. ft. of production space. It was also the first federally regulated, publicly traded cannabis producer in North America, and the first billion-dollar cannabis corporation. Canopy Growth was founded in 2014, and is based in Smith Falls, Ontario.
Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CRON) (TSX.V: MJN)
Cronos Group is a principal investment firm that seeks to invest in companies either licensed, or actively seeking a license, to produce medical marijuana pursuant to Canada's Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR). The firm typically invests in companies based in Canada, and is primarily an equity investor, may also advance debt as appropriate. It seeks to make minority investments with appropriate governance and shareholder rights. Cronos Group was incorporated in January, 2013 and is based in Toronto, Canada.
For a more in-depth look into MYM Nutraceuticals you can view the in-depth report at USA News Group: http://usanewsgroup.com/2018/04/12/sector-diversification-is-the-key-to-a-happy-trading-portfolio/
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