Fast-growing Canadian firm Supreme Cannabis has launched a new subsidiary in London to invest in businesses in the emerging European CBD sector.
It has appointed Patrick Morton, the Canadian-born a co-founder of Cannabis Invest UK, as chief executive of this offshoot, known as Supreme Heights. Mr Morton told Proactive Investors that Supreme Heights is an investment vehicle focussed on supporting ‘focussed and differentiated, premium’ CBD brands.
Wall Of Waiting Cash
Speaking to CBD Testers earlier this year Mr Morton explained how he had quit his investment banking analyst’s job to co-found Cannabis Invest UK; a leading cannabis investor conference,.
And he elaborated on how the U.K. market is opening up to a wide range of investors from private individuals, pension funds, private wealth mangers to acquisitive cannabis and non-cannabis related firms. Supreme Heights says it looking to attract investment from outside investors and say this may involves market listing in London.
Mr Morton told Proactive Investors that established U.S. funds, U.K. merchant banks and small-cap investment funds have expressed an interest in the business.
Brewdog Of The CBD Industry
Supreme Heights says it wants to back innovative CBD companies rather than take them over, and is interested in mid-sized minority stakes; of around 20-50%. Using the example of the craft ale business Brewdog Mr Morton cited this is an ‘object lesson on how a passion project can morph into a very significant business’.
He says the over-arching theme for Supreme is ‘authenticity’ and finding people who have ‘similar values of sustainability, innovation and community’. “I think the craft beer industry is a good analogy. In a market that’s very crowded, a few U.K. brands have done a fantastic job of differentiating themselves,” he told Proactive Investors.
Driving Shareholder Value
Supreme Heights is looking to invest ‘several million dollars’ in Europe. Mr Morton went on to say the U.K. market is currently ill-defined, fragmented and ‘plagued by inefficiencies’. “We are looking for those differentiated brands that are developing high quality products and are trying to scale quickly.”
The Supreme Cannabis Company is a $500 million Toronto-listed seed-to-sale business with a portfolio of successful brands including 7ACRES, which has 230,000 square feet of production capacity producing over 30,000 kilograms of cannabis.
Speaking on the London move Supreme Cannabis’ CEO Navdeep Dhaliwal said that Supreme Heights will benefit from its experience saying: “We look forward to driving value for Supreme Cannabis shareholders through this investment platform.”
