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Aurora Cannabis Inc. sold its stake in The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. after markets closed on Tuesday, ending the relationship between the two cannabis firms.
The $86.5-million sale, conducted as a block trade, was completed at $3 a share – a 14.5-per-cent discount to Green Organic’s closing price of $3.51 on Tuesday.
Aurora was an early backer of TGOD, investing $55-million in the Mississauga-based producer in January, 2018, and another $23-million in the company when it went public in May, 2018.
The two firms, however, have been moving apart since September, 2018, when Aurora’s chief corporate officer Cam Battley stepped down from TGOD’s board of directors with no explanation from either company.
Shortly afterward, Aurora decided not to exercise TGOD warrants that would have given it a further 8-per-cent to 10-per-cent stake in the company. The warrants were exercisable at a 10-per-cent discount to TGOD’s 10-day average share price.
Aurora has been steadily exiting its position in TGOD since then, selling roughly $35-million worth of TGOD shares in October, 2018, at prices between $5.02 and $5.87 per share. It sold several tranches of TGOD shares in January of 2019 at prices as low as $2.47 a share.
Despite success raising significant amounts of money, TGOD has struggled operationally, with construction delays at its Hamilton site owing to conflict with local government, and scant sales into either the Canadian recreational or medical-cannabis markets.
TGOD posted a loss of $16.6-million on $2.9-million in sales in its most recent quarter. All its revenue came from a subsidiary in Poland that sells hemp; the company has yet to report cannabis sales in Canada.
"Aurora has been an excellent partner during TGOD’s build-out phase; their investment was instrumental in our success,” said TGOD spokesperson Sebastien Bouchard.
“The relationship added tremendous value across multiple areas of collaboration, including the design and construction of our Canadian facilities. This is the right next step in the relationship as both companies mature and our respective strategies evolve, also providing TGOD with new institutional investors," Mr. Bouchard said.
On Tuesday morning, TGOD announced that its second greenhouse in Hamilton received a cultivation license from Health Canada.
An Aurora spokesperson declined to comment on the deal.