Dankr.ca – Your Toronto Connection
Article by Mike Okada, Cannabis Life Network
Canopy Growth Corp., Canada’s largest licensed producer, has announced its acquisition of Hiku Brands Co., and estimates of the all-stock deal range from $250 M (as reported in the Financial Post) to $350 M (according to Hiku).
Hiku owns the cannabis lifestyle brand/ coffee shop Tokyo Smoke along with licensed producer DOJA Cannabis, and Canopy CEO Bruce Linton cited Tokyo Smoke as a major reason for the acquisition saying:
“Hiku equals brands. Canopy is built on brands. So we combined them”.
Once cannabis is legalized in October, Hiku plans to open cannabis retail stores in provinces that are allowing private retail. Along those ends, Hiku has applied for retail licenses in Alberta’s biggest cities and is working to open stores in Newfoundland and Labrador. Hiku also holds a conditional retail license in Manitoba.
As Canopy CEO Bruce Linton told the Globe and Mail:
“They need product to fill the stores. And we want to be able to have more and more stores”.
Hiku is a relatively new company, having formed back in January from the merger of Tokyo Smoke and DOJA Cannabis. Tokyo Smoke is often billed as a “hipster coffee chain” that sells cannabis accessories, while DOJA is a BC-based licensed producer.
Major shareholders in Hiku include Jeremy and Jason Drummond, who are members of the Regina-based billionaire family that have been accused of trying to control and monopolize the Canadian cannabis industry by cannabis activists like dispensary owner Pat Warnecke. Mr. Warnecke also told CLN in a previous interview that the Drummonds are major shareholders in licensed producers Aphria and Aurora Cannabis.
