By Gene Johnson | Associated Press
A Canadian company is the first marijuana business to complete an initial public offering on a major U.S. stock exchange, raising $153 million to expand its operations as Canada prepares to legalize the drug nationwide.
British Columbia-based Tilray Inc.’s shares began trading Thursday on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Initially priced at $17, the stock quickly jumped to more than $21 a share.
Tilray isn’t the first pot company to trade on a major American stock exchange, but it is the first to do so with an IPO, a step that could boost credibility and confidence in the industry, said John Kagia, an analyst with the marijuana market research firm New Frontier Data.
“It’s another high-profile marker of how the cannabis industry is maturing and professionalizing,” he said.
Two other Canadian marijuana companies began trading on major U.S. exchanges earlier this year — Cronos Group on Nasdaq and Canopy Growth on the New York Stock Exchange. Those companies already were publicly traded in Canada.
Nine U.S states and Washington, D.C., have legalized the recreational use of marijuana and about two-thirds have legal medical marijuana. But American cannabis companies have been unable to list on major U.S. exchanges because of the drug’s illegal status under federal law. Instead, some have gone public in Canada by being acquired by companies there.
Medical marijuana is legal in Canada, and on Oct. 17, the country will become the first major industrialized nation to legalize its production and sale for recreational use. Uruguay is the only other country to do so.
Read the full story at The Cannifornian.
