Expands Strategic Partnership to Accelerate Canopy Growth's Global Expansion Plans in Rapidly-Growing Medical and Recreational Cannabis Markets
VICTOR, NY and SMITHS FALLS, ON, Aug. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) (NYSE: STZ.B), a leading beverage alcohol company, and Canopy Growth Corporation (Canopy Growth) (TSX: WEED) (NYSE: CGC), a leading diversified cannabis company (together, the "Companies"), today announced a significant expansion of their strategic partnership to position Canopy Growth as the global leader in cannabis production, branding, intellectual property and retailing.
Constellation Brands will increase its ownership interest in Canopy Growth by acquiring 104.5 million shares directly fromCanopy Growth, thereby achieving approximately 38 percent ownership when assuming exercise of the existing Constellation warrants. Constellation Brands is acquiring the new shares at a price of C$48.60 per share, which is a 37.9 percent premium to Canopy's 5-day volume weighted average price of the common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("VWAP"), and a 51.2 percent premium to the closing price on August 14, 2018. Constellation will also receive additional warrants of Canopy that, if exercised, would provide for at least an additional $4.5 billion CAD to Canopy Growth.
As a result of the new shares Constellation is acquiring, Canopy Growth will immediately upon closing have proceeds of approximately $5 billion CAD [$4 billion USD] to bolster its leadership position in the global cannabis industry. This investment, the largest to date in the cannabis space, will provide funds which Canopy Growth will deploy to strategically build and/or acquire key assets needed to establish global scale in the nearly 30 countries pursuing a federally permissible medical cannabis