WWW.LEXPERT.CA
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2019
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LEXPERT 37
Zacher, Glenn M. Stikeman Elliott LLP
(416) 869-5688 gzacher@stikeman.com
Mr. Zacher is a partner in the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Group and is
Co-Head of the Energy Group. His practice focuses on complex commercial
litigation and class actions, particularly in the energy sector. He has
appeared before all levels of provincial courts and the Supreme Court
of Canada, and has conducted arbitrations and acted as counsel before
various administrative tribunals.
Wortzman, Robert D. Wildeboer Dellelce LLP
(416) 361-2930 rwortzman@wildlaw.ca
Mr. Wortzman's practice focuses primarily on M&A and corporate finance
transactions. He has significant experience in domestic and cross-border
M&A transactions, public and private equity and debt offerings and
restructuring transactions across all industries. He regularly assists issuers,
investment dealers, and institutional and private investors on equity
and debt financing transactions.
Whitcombe, Michael P. McMillan LLP
(416) 865-7126 michael.whitcombe@mcmillan.ca
Mr. Whitcombe is the Chairman of McMillan LLP and National Co-Chair of the
Private Equity Practice. He practises business law with a focus on negotiated
merger & acquisition transactions (domestic and cross-border), private equity
investments, complex commercial arrangements and corporate governance.
He is Chairman of the Oakville Community Foundation and a Director
of MLSE LaunchPad.
Weinberger, David Stikeman Elliott LLP
(416) 869-5515 dweinberger@stikeman.com
Mr. Weinberger is a partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions, Capital Markets
and Securities Groups. His practice focuses on mergers & acquisitions,
capital markets transactions, as well as private equity transactions.
He has significant experience advising both bidders and targets in hostile
and negotiated merger & acquisition transactions.
LEXPERT-RANKED LAWYERS
sumer shi to cannabis edibles, vaping and more.
"I think Constellation is an innovator in the al-
coholic beverage sector," says Pressman, "and they
saw a once-in-a-century opportunity. ey were
very forward-looking in terms of understanding
shis in consumer behaviour."
e Constellation-Canopy deal created much
speculation that investment in the cannabis space
by certain types of industries would be more likely
to occur, Pressman says. "Alcohol and beverages,
tobacco and pharma were the three big industrials
that people had expected to be very focused and in-
terested in the sector." First came the deal by Con-
stellation, an alcoholic beverages company, then
the Altria tobacco (Marlborough brands) company
and its investments in Cronos, and then pharma,
through joint-venture transactions with Tilray, a
Canadian pharmaceutical and cannabis company
incorporated in the United States with primary
operations headquartered in British Columbia.
"Now, you've got a closing of the circle, the trifecta
of industries that have identified their horses and
strategic investments."
And Canada is the only market that's available
to US producers who want to raise capital, Press-
man says. Although there are hundreds of profit-
able, revenue-generating US cannabis producers,
cannabis remains a controlled substance and illegal
under the US federal Controlled Substances Act,
making it difficult for American cannabis produc-
ers to borrow money from traditional financial in-
stitutions, or to raise capital on federally regulated
stock exchanges.
Because of Canada's expertise in that market,
its stock exchanges and capital markets can foster
international cannabis players similar to the way
they fostered international junior and mid-market
exploration-stage and development-stage mining
companies, he says. Cannabis producers today are
contributing to robust Canadian capital markets,
"and as that happens, that is also potentially going
to feed and foster the Canadian M&A market."
In December the proposed amendments to the
federal Cannabis Act and the Cannabis Regula-
tions were released. ese proposed amendments
to the Act and Regulations are anticipated to per-
mit the legal sale of edibles, extracts and topicals
containing cannabis by October 17, 2019.
Cannabidiol (CBD), a therapeutic cannabinoid
which can be used topically, in an oil, has now been
liberalized in the United States, which is ahead of
Canada in that respect, Davies' Olasker notes.
"I think we're going to see … Canadians looking
to buy US hemp assets" so they can produce CBD,
she says. "For Canadian companies, the holy grail
is really being able to get a footprint into the US.
Some are already there, such as Tilray and Canopy."
Olasker also sees conventional retailers moving
into the cannabis space, and notes Tilray's recent
global revenue-sharing agreement with Authentic
Brands, which owns the shoe-store chain Nine
West, among other brands, to develop and mar-
ket consumer cannabis brands. "A driver is that if
you're going to buy a foot cream, you might prefer
that it say Nine West on it rather than XYZ Weed
Co.," she jokes; and as cannabis products move into
the health-and-wellness sector, "this is normal re-
tail play, and obviously it makes a ton of sense."
Today, cannabis is "a lot more than the Grateful
Dead and potheads," says Belovich. Medical can-
nabis may be available through health-care benefits
and a product such as CBD oil may be safer for use
by the elderly, for example, than conventional drugs.
THC and CBD are just two of 113 cannabinoids
identified to date, which science can use to create
"millions of combinations," he says. "If you think of
the whole science aspect, that's hugely exciting."
