Australia is rapidly emerging as another key battleground for Canadian cannabis firms that seek to dominate the burgeoning global marijuana industry.
This week MediPharm Labs Corp. (TSXV: LABS; OTCQB: MLCPF) made Australia its first export market after tying up a private-label CBD oil supply deal with AusCann (ASX: AC8). It will now begin shipping purified oil concentrates there and AusCann will turn them into capsules to meet increased demand for marijuana across the country.
MYM Nutraceuticals Inc. (CSE: MYM; OTCBB: MYMMF) then announced that it has established an Australian subsidiary called MYM Australia Pty Ltd. It is setting up a head office on Queensland’s Gold Coast, while it is poised to begin cultivating cannabis on a 400ha plot in Henty, New South Wales.
The first phase of the project will see it cultivate 50ha of cannabis plants, and the remaining 350ha will be developed on the adjacent land in the coming years.
MYM Australia will own 75% of this project and the remaining 25% will be controlled by CPRSX Holdings. That firm’s principles, including the Muller family, control more than 5,000ha of farmland in the region, so they will provide agricultural expertise.
Fabian Szatmary, former principal of Sunmark Growth, will spearhead the project. MYM chief executive Howard Steinberg expects it to be the first of many projects for the firm in the Asia Pacific region.
MediPharm is a B2B supplier of CBD oil and concentrates and it is also keen to expand its tentacles across the globe. Another Australian cannabis company, MMJ PhytoTech Ltd. (ASX: MMJ), is an investor in MediPharm.
Patrick McCutcheon, chief executive at MediPharm, has promised to pursue a robust global expansion drive and he was pleased to secure the deal with AusCann. Australian companies are also looking at exports, as Creso Pharma (ASX: CPH) has begun a cultivation project in Nova Scotia and AusCann has partnered with Colombian counterpart Khiron Life Sciences (CVE: KHRN) in a bid to dominate the Latin American market.
Colombia is arguably the biggest battleground for North American firms right now and GNCC Capital (OTC: GNCP) has just bought Colombian producer BioCann Pharma S.A.S. for $120 million. We are likely to see many more acquisitions in the months ahead as big firms compete for share on a rapidly expanding global market.
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