It’s time for your Daily Hit of cannabis financial news for December 17, 2020.

On the Site

Aphria

Stifel analyst Andrew Carter has downgraded Aphria (NASDAQ: APHA) from Buy to Hold and upgraded Tilray (NASDAQ: TLRY) from Sell to Hold following the announcement of the company’s merger. In the merger agreement, Aphria shareholders will receive 0.8381 shares of Tilray’s for each Aphria stock they own. Aphria will own about 62% of the combined company, however, the merged company will supposedly be known under the Tilray name and would trade with the TLRY stock ticker.

He said that the merger with Tilray offers compelling long-term potential but limited near-term upside. He raised the target price from C$8.25 to C$9.90 for Aphria based on the company’s 62% of the new combined company.

2021

Most can agree that 2020 was a year we’d like to leave behind. Even for the ‘essential’ business of cannabis, it was a challenging year with store closures and social distancing in grow facilities. Here now are several leaders in the industry weighing in with their thoughts on 2021.

 Kris Krane, President. 4Front Ventures:

Cannabis is poised to be an even better market in 2021 for a variety of reasons.  New states like New Jersey and Arizona that legalized this November are poised to come online for adult use for the first time.  Newer markets like Illinois, Michigan, and Massachusetts are poised to expand and mature.  A Biden administration is likely to be friendlier towards this industry than the current administration. But most importantly, the larger companies in the space are now focused on operations and execution, resulting in better overall performance, revenue, and EBITDA.  I would expect that we will see more consolidation in 2021, as companies use some of their new profits to acquire businesses and market share.

Zelira

Zelira Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:ZLD, OTCQB:ZLDAF), a leader in cannabis research and the development of clinically validated cannabis medicines, just announced its newest licensing agreement for its HOPE line of products, Zelira’s top-selling treatment developed for autism patients. Under the agreement with Alternative Solutions, a licensed grower, manufacturer and distributor of medical cannabis products in the District of Columbia (Washington DC), HOPE will be produced and distributed throughout the legal DC medical cannabis market beginning in Q2 2021.

In Other News

IIPR

Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. (NYSE: IIPR) closed on the acquisitions of a property in Georgetown, Massachusetts and a property in Olympia, Washington, which collectively comprise approximately 181,000 square feet of industrial space. The purchase prices for the properties were $33.0 million in total (excluding transaction costs). Concurrent with the closings of the purchases, IIP entered into a long-term, triple-net lease agreement for each property with a subsidiary of 4Front Ventures Corp. (CSE: FFNT) (OTCQX: FFNTF) (4Front), which intends to continue to operate the Massachusetts property as a regulated cannabis cultivation, processing and dispensing facility and to sublease the Washington property to a cannabis license holder for continued use as a cannabis cultivation and processing facility.

Ehave

Ehave, Inc. (OTC Pink: EHVVF) announced KetaDASH www.ketadash.com, an Intravenous (IV) based, home delivery platform for patients who have been prescribed Ketamine. Ehave, Inc. has entered into an asset purchase agreement to acquire the tangible and intangible assets of a San Diego, CA based IV therapy service CureDash www.curedash.com. CureDash currently operates an IV delivery platform that will become the backbone of KetaDash. 

Flowr

The Flowr Corporation (TSX.V: FLWR; OTC: FLWPF) announced a strategic warehousing agreement with Tilray Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY) where the companies will take a collaborative approach to furthering their cannabis businesses in the European Union. The Company is also pleased to announce that the Company has agreed to close the final tranche of funding of the Aljustrel Joint Venture in the amount of C$1 million pursuant to the Equity Line and Profit Share Agreement with Terrace Global.