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Two interesting items to share this Thursday morning in marijuana: Canada will have yet another publicly-traded cannabis company when markets open Thursday, this one focused entirely on infused chocolate, and American Eagle customers will soon have lots of CBD options to choose from with Green Growth Brands announcing what is by far its largest retail partnership to date.
– Jameson Berkow
Bhang starts trading on CSE
In less than a decade, Scott Van Rixel went from being the owner of an artisanal chocolate shop in New Mexico to being CEO of a publicly-traded company.
Bhang, which Mr. Van Rixel founded in 2010, will start trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange as of Thursday morning under the ticker “BHNG”. The Miami-based company uses white labelling agreements with various licensed cannabis growers to produce a line of infused chocolate bars sold in more than 1,000 cannabis retail stores in California, Illinois, New Mexico and Michigan. Bhang products have substantial notoriety in the markets where they are available, having won the The High Times Cannabis Cup eight times.
“Back in 2010, edibles were still coming in basic ziplock bags – no nutritional information, no serving size, no ingredient list," Mr. Van Rixel, himself a trained chef and master chocolatier, said in a statement. “I brought my food industry knowledge in and we changed packaging to include that information and meet [U.S Food and Drug Administration] standards, even though obviously cannabis isn’t an FDA-approved product.”
According to its most recent security filing earlier this week, the company has $5.4-million in available funds and 12 employees. Canadian licensed producer Indiva signed a joint venture with Bhang in April for exclusively rights to produce and sell the company’s chocolate bars in the Canadian market once edible products become legally authorized for sale later this year.
Green Growth gets major order from American Eagle
Ohio-based Green Growth Brands scored its largest retail partnership to date Thursday, announcing plans to sell its hemp-based CBD-infused personal care products in nearly 500 American Eagle stores and online.
The agreement is the third retail partnership for Green Growth, after the company backed by the billionaire Schottenstein family previously secured distribution deals with DSW shoe stores and Abercrombie & Fitch. Green Growth products will start to appear in American Eagle stores in October and the company says they have been developed specifically for sale in those stores, including lotions, muscle balms, and aromatherapy products.
Earlier this week, Green Growth announced it would pay US$310-million in a stock-based deal to acquire the parent company of multi-state operator Moxie Cannabis. The purchase comes with US$39-million in cash from Moxie’s own bank accounts, which Green Growth says will be put towards expanding its network of Seventh Sense Botanical Therapy shops from 61 currently to more than 200 by the end of 2019.
Jameson Berkow