Aurora shutters Canadian iconic producer Canimed.SAD DAY CanniMed, the country’s first licensed medical marijuana producer, had more than 200 employees and was in the midst of a $10.5-million expansion of its Saskatoon facility at the time of the bid.
The company urged its shareholders to reject Aurora’s bid in favour of a plan to acquire Tragically Hip-backed Newstrike Resources Ltd. Instead, the takeover was completed in March 2018 at a price of approximately $1.1 billion.
“CanniMed has been part of the fabric of the province of Saskatchewan since our inception as a company in 1998 … It has always been my greatest aspiration to hire local and play our part in the economic benefit we offer to the city and province,” CanniMed president and CEO Brent Zettl said in a statement at the time of the hostile takeover bid.
Cam Battley, executive vice-president of Aurora Cannabis Inc. in 2017, said at the time of the takeover bid that his company wanted to keep investing in CanniMed Therapeutics Inc.’s facility.
“We are all about growth and expansion,” Battley said. “We would not have plans to cut back. We have plans to expand.”
For most marijuana companies in Canada, which legalized recreational cannabis in October 2018, profits have proven elusive due to fewer-than-expected retail stores, cheaper rates on the black market and slow overseas growth.
The industry has been further hit by the COVID-19 crisis, which has also upended financial markets, making it harder to get investor dollars.
https://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/aurora-cannabis-plans-more-layoffs-facility-closures-amid-industry-turmoil