PharmaCann, one of the 10 original cannabis licensees in New York, has confidentially filed for an initial public offering.
According to sources who remained anonymous and spoke to Reuters, the offering could value the company at over $1 billion.
The planned IPO would help PharmaCann raise funds before New York state begins recreational weed sales. New York is expecting to start sales sometime in 2022. The IPO could take place this fall, one of the sources revealed.
PharmaCann operates in five other U.S. states and may dual-list its shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange and for over-the-counter trading in the United States, one of the sources also said.
The company has gotten Canadian investment bank Canaccord Genuity (CF.TO) for the offering. Canaccord is expected to be the lead underwriter.
New York became the 16th U.S. state to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana earlier this month.
kickstarting a race from companies to secure a position in a market expected to be among the world’s biggest.
It was this past June that Cronos Group Inc (CRON.TO) took a 10.5% stake in PharmaCann for $110.4 million in June. That deal valued PharmaCann at $1.1 billion, and the IPO would likely be a higher valuation, the sources said.
The company currently operates four medical cannabis retail stores and a cultivation facility in New York. They submitted paperwork for its IPO to U.S. and Canadian regulators during the past 30 to 45 days, two of the sources said.
