Israel acquisition

From Calcalist, israel newspaper

Boaz Wachtel, founder of the Green Leaf Party, wants to grow cannabis in Israel

After failing in the 2006 elections, Wachtel took his legalization away from Israel. The company he founded, Carasso Pharma, which is traded in Australia at a company value of NIS 170 million, signed a cooperation agreement with Cohen Greenhouses and Nir Gilboa of the security team Team 3


Boaz Wachtel, who wanted to bring the message of legalization to Israel through the establishment of the Green Leaf party - and failed in the 2006 elections, decided to do business in the green plant in countries where it is legal.

He founded the public company Creso-Pharma in collaboration with Dr. Miri Halperin Wernli, one of the world's leading pharmaceutics companies, who worked at Aktalion Pharma in Israel and several companies in the US and Switzerland Carasso- Pharma was issued on the Australian Stock Exchange 16 months ago and is traded at a market value of A $ 62.5 million (about NIS 170 million).


Two of the company's products have been sold in Europe. These are animal and animal supplements based on the non-psychotic substance of the plant, CBD. So far it has relied on extracts it has acquired from various composers, but now it wants to change its business strategy. Carasso Pharma is interested in starting to manufacture the raw material itself, in order to reduce costs and control the entire production chain - by establishing growing farms in Israel. For this purpose, the company signed a cooperation agreement with the Cohen brothers, owners of greenhouses and leading agricultural exporters, and Nir Gilboa, one of the owners of the security team Team 3.


The brothers Meirav and Assaf Cohen, owners of Cohen Greenhouses, own 157 dunams of greenhouses in Israel. The company has been active since 1956, employs 600 workers and exports mainly flowers. Gilboa, who has accumulated extensive experience in the security field, will be responsible for the critical area that characterizes the growth of cannabis in Israel.

Carasso Pharma will hold 74% of the public company and the brothers Cohen and Gilboa will hold the remaining 26%. The Company believes that the expertise of Cohen Greenhouses may save it eight months of construction and operation. The target is production capacity of 2.5 tons per year.

The company has already received initial approval from the state to grow in the Kfar Hanagid area, near Rehovot, where there is a flower growing facility that will undergo conversion to cannabis. The project will be led by Amit Edri of Karsu-Pharma, who is in charge of international business development and has experience in medical cannabis in Israel and around the world.



Carasso Pharma has given investors a 180% return since its IPO, but it is still less than a dollar a share. It is still not profitable, and its revenues are negligible. According to its reports, in the second half of 2017 it presented a loss of 9 million US dollars.

There are two other companies in Australia that deal with the field: Roots (Roots Agricultural Technologies), established in 2015 with Sharon Dvir and Erez Vegetarian; And MMJ PhytoTech, which uses Hebrew University technology to administer cannabis using a sticker on the inside of the cheek.