32 LEXPERT
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2019
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WWW.LEXPERT.CA
WITH CANADA LEGALIZING cannabis for recreational use in Cana-
da in October, 2018 became a year of big deals in the sector.
In November, Constellation Brands — an international producer
and marketer of beer, wine and spirits — increased its stake in Can-
opy Growth by an additional $4 billion (it had acquired a smaller
stake earlier in the year). Two
months earlier, Canopy had bought
up Hiku Brands, parent company of
Tokyo Smoke, for $250 million.
Aurora Cannabis, one of the
world's largest and fastest-growing
cannabis companies, made two ac-
quisitions: CanniMed erapeutics
for $1.23 billion and MedReleaf
Corp. for US$2.5 billion. And,
in December, the Altria Group, a
tobacco company, bought a 45-per-cent stake in Canada's Cronos
Group for US$1.8 billion.
"It's certainly a very exciting" period in M&A in the cannabis sec-
tor, says Patricia Olasker, a partner at Davies Ward Phillips & Vine-
berg LLP in Toronto, who led a team of legal advisors for Canopy
Growth in the acquisition by Constellation Brands for MedReleaf
shareholders in the purchase by Aurora Cannabis, and who advised
Cannabis
Business
Growth Ahead
AS THE CANADIAN CANNABIS
SECTOR CONTINUES TO GROW,
M&A LAWYERS HAVE SEEN A RISE
IN MAJOR DEALS, BOTH NATIONALLY
AND INTERNATIONALLY
BY ELIZABETH RAYMER
CANNABIS M&A
PHOTO:
SHUTTERSTOCK
