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03:21 PM EST, 01/23/2018 (MT Newswires) -- Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB.TO) -- now involved in friendly takeover talks with rival CanniMed (CMED.TO) after weeks of bitter back and forth after its initial hostile takeover bid -- provided Tuesday afternoon an update on the company's international activities. Incidentally, should ACB succeed in agreeing a deal with CMED, it may well end up taking over smaller rival Newstrike (HIP.V) too, as HIP had agreed to be taken over by CMED. Completion of both deals would make ACB one of the biggest producers in the growing marijuana sector. According to the company, its Aurora Nordic joint venture will be accelerating its time to market in Denmark with the retrofit of a 100,000-square-foot greenhouse in the city of Odense. Subject to licensing, this will allow Aurora Nordic to commence cannabis cultivation during summer 2018, while its new purpose-built, high-technology, 1 million-square-foot production facility is under construction. Meanwhile, in Italy, Aurora took the first step to supplying the tightly restricted Italian market through a first tender of three lots of different cannabinoid profiles, totaling 100 kilograms, as ordered by the Italian Ministry of Defense. Aurora also noted the rapid market growth in Germany, where about 13,000 people applied for reimbursement of their medical cannabis prescription, with a 65% approval rate, from March 2017 to November 2017. Pedanios, owned by Aurora, remains the largest cannabis distributor by volume of product sold in the EU, and offers 11 of 15 licensed varieties in Germany. Lastly, Cann Group was granted a license to import and export cannabis genetics and medicinal cannabis products by Australia's Department of Health. The license will allow Cann Group to import genetics from Aurora to help its portfolio of medical cannabis products. Aurora Cannabis shares were trading at $14.83 on last look, for a 2.3% gain from the previous close and near the 52-week high of $14.88. |