New Canadian-backed Aussie pot stock eyes ASX
https://www.copyright link/content/dam/images/h/1/2/o/h/5/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.h132al.png/1532423923631.jpg
It's easy to make clever puns about the medical cannabis sector - heaven knows we've made a few in our time. But there's nothing funny about the gains some canny investors have made on pot stocks.
The prime example on the Australian Securities Exchange is Cann Group which is up 384 per cent since this time last year, while shares in listed rival AusCann have gained 151 per cent in the same timeframe.
And now a smaller but very similar rival is hoping a bit of that success rubs off.
Street Talk can reveal Althea, which gained its medical cannabis licence in March, completed a pre-IPO funding round four weeks ago and is now eyeing an ASX listing in September.
A marketing roadshow, which will be run by PAC Partners as sole lead manager, is expected to get under way in mid-August. The offer size is likely to be about $14 million, according to a term sheet obtained by this column.
Althea and Cann share more than a few similarities, including the fact both are backed by big North American cannabis groups.
Cann has the support of Canada's Aurora Cannabis Inc – that country's second largest cannabis company with a $C4.5 billion market cap, while Althea is 25 per cent owned by the world's No.3 pot company, Toronto-listed Aphria, with which it also has a supply agreement.
Aphria, already a strategic investor in Althea, is expected to cornerstone the mooted IPO. Existing investor Sydney-based emerging companies fund Alium Capital is also expected to tip into the raise.
