Canopy appoints new chair, adds Constellation CMO to board

Canopy Growth made two new appointments to the pot giant’s board of directors on Wednesday, naming Judy Schmeling as the company’s new chair. Canopy also appointed Constellation Brands’ Chief Marketing Officer Jim Sabia as a director in principle as he awaits the security checks and other standard Health Canada processes associated with the appointment. Once Sabia is fully appointed to the board, Constellation Brands will control four of Canopy’s seven board seats, including the Corona maker’s CEO Bill Newlands as well as Robert Hanson, who sits on Constellation’s board. Former Constellation CFO David Klein assumed the helm of Canopy last week.

Altitude Investment turns attention to high-yield debt in new US$150M-fund

Bloomberg News reports that Altitude Investment Management is turning their attention to the ever-growing high-yield pot debt market, a timely move given the recent slump experienced by the cannabis sector. Altitude Investment is looking to raise US$150 million for its second fund, which will focus on growth-stage U.S. companies, both healthy and distressed, as well as the emerging European medical cannabis industry. Part of the high-yield debt that Altitude would consider investing in would lie in existing debt that’s trading at a significant discount to its issue price, one of the firm’s partners said.

Curaleaf shareholders agree to extend terms of lockup agreement

U.S. cannabis giant Curaleaf announced Wednesday that a majority of its shareholders extended a lock-up agreement on when they would be able to release their shares to the market. Roughly 62 per cent of Curaleaf’s outstanding shares are part of the agreement, which will now see five per cent of a participant's holding released on the last day of each calendar quarter beginning on March 31. Prior to Wednesday’s announcement, Curaleaf shareholders that took part in the earlier agreement could release 15 per cent of their shares per quarter. In a statement, Curaleaf Chair Boris Jordan said 71 per cent of the company’s outstanding shares have not disposed of their holdings and those shareholders confirm their intent to hold their shares for the time being.

Nearly half of hemp grown in Arizona above legal THC limit

One of the key reasons the U.S. legalized hemp cultivation was due to the minimal amount of THC, the impairing chemical compound contained within the cannabis plant, grown by that particular crop. However, High Times reports that Arizona agriculture officials found that 41 per cent of the hemp grown in the state have THC levels that are considered too high –above the 0.3 per cent legal limit. If the THC limits are tested to be above the legal limit, hemp farmers are mandated to destroy that crop, resulting in the potential for millions of dollars in losses. To avoid further losses, some hemp farmers are trying to raise the legal limit to one per cent THC to create a higher margin of error, High Times reports.

DAILY BUZZ

7.0% 

-The decline in recreational cannabis prices in December from the prior month, according to Statistics Canada. The drop is the largest one-month move since legalization and is largely due to holiday sale pricing as cannabis inventories rose.

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