Willie Nelson's marijuana brand coming to Canada
Posted by Sagar Satapathy on July 26, 2018.
Willie Nelson’s marijuana brand is coming to Canada soon. LivWell Enlightened Health, one of the largest recreational pot companies in Colorado, plans to bring Willie Nelson-branded cannabis products to Canada through a series of business deals with two Calgary companies.
LivWell Enlightened Health is mulling over bringing Willie Nelson's marijuana brand and make it public in Toronto.
LivWell Enlightened Health says it plans to combine with Calgary-based CBi2 and 51st Parallel Inc. to create what will become a Calgary-based, TSX Venture-listed company operating under the name LivWell International.
The company says it will have exclusive rights to some of the flagship brands of GCH Inc., a cannabis brand holding company founded with Willie Nelson, including Willie’s Remedy and Willie’s Reserve.
Calgary-based 51st Parallel says it will make a US$20-million equity investment in GCH Inc. as part of the deal for a 12.4 per cent stake in the holding company.
The management of LivWell Enlightened Health will lead the restructured LivWell International, while Sonny Mottahed, Chairman, CEO of CBi2 and 51st Parallel, will join the board of directors of GCH.
LivWell’s website reveals that it has about 500 employees and generates about $80 million in annual sales from marijuana growing, processing and retailing.
The deals will bring one of the best-known American marijuana brands to Canada, while continuing a trend of U.S. pot companies heading to Toronto to tap investor demand for weed stocks.
Recreational marijuana is set to become legal in Canada on October 17, opening a market that Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Kenneth Shea has estimated may exceed C$5 billion in 2020. Pot in edibles and beverages and for vaping will still be outlawed for up to a year after legalization as the government takes more time to address the risks of those products.
The 85-year-old singer’s pot empire includes the Willie’s Reserve and Willie’s Remedy brands, which market flower, vape pens and edible marijuana products.
After going public, the Denver-based LivWell says it expects to produce 32,000 kilograms of dried flower and have annual extraction capacity of 10,000 kilograms. The company says it has applied for eight retail locations in Alberta and has identified two “high profile” locations in B.C.
As per Bloomberg News, LivWell Enlightened Health is also changing its name to LivWell International and striking a side deal that will give it perpetual distribution rights in Canada to Willie’s Reserve, the U.S. country singer’s namesake marijuana brand.
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