U.S. Pot Producer Cannex Joins Marijuana Rush to List in Toronto

Cannex Capital Group Inc., owner of the largest marijuana company in the U.S., is looking to tap investor demand in Canada by listing its shares in Toronto.

The Vancouver-based company that owns the assets of Northwest Cannabis Solutions in Washington state is poised to start trading Wednesday on the Canadian Securities Exchange, said Chief Executive Officer Anthony Dutton. Cannex is looking to expand its footprint in states such as California and Arizona, becoming the latest company with U.S. operations to list in Canada.

“It’s virtually impossible,” to raise money in the U.S., where marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, said Leo Gontmakher, Cannex’s chief operating officer. “There’s not that many big money private investors in the states who are willing to take that risk.”

Cannex produced 8,500 kilograms of marijuana in 2017 that went into products such as edibles, infused capsules, and vape cartridges, Gontmakher said. The company has the highest trailing revenue of any publicly traded U.S. cannabis company and just raised $48 million, the largest public financing to date in the U.S. sector, said Vahan Ajamian, an analyst at Beacon Securities. Beacon led Cannex’s reverse takeover by Arco Resources Corp. to gain a listing on the Canadian bourse under the symbol CNNX.

Other publicly traded Canadian firms with U.S. operations include Ottawa-based CannaRoyalty Corp. and Liberty Health Sciences Inc. of Toronto.