Aphria was once among the most bullish Canadian licenced producers when it came to investing stateside. The Leamington, Ont.-based company turned its back on U.S. pot assets after agreeing to sell its stake in Liberty Health Sciences (LHS.CN)(LHSIF) in 2018. Its exit followed a warning from the owners of the Toronto Stock Exchange that companies directly invested in U.S. cannabis could face delisting from Canada’s two main exchanges, since the drug remains illegal under U.S. federal law.
 
Speaking last week at the Canaccord Genuity Global Growth Conference, chief financial officer Carl Merton spelled out how Aphria could return to the U.S. The plan calls for buying an established American consumer packaged goods firm totally unrelated to cannabis and CBD.

Merton said the business would need to be already profitable, have an established brand, and strong distribution. 

“Anything that you would buy that has any level of cannabis in it, it’s going to cost you a premium. That’s just extra expense to your shareholders,” he said via video call.

“So you buy this business that doesn’t impact your primary business . . . other than positively. You slowly, slowly begin like a two year period, build out its cannabis capabilities while you are waiting for the rules to change. It’s very similar to the strategy we used in Germany with CC Pharma.”

Nikolaas Faes, an analyst with Bryan, Garnier & Co., expects Aphria will pull the trigger on a U.S. acquisition ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election.

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/aphria-to-buy-nonpot-american-brands-ahead-of-us-election-analyst-184530537.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=fb