Debra Borchardt
Canadian cannabis company The Flowr Corporation (TSX.V: FLWR; OTC: FLWPF) has acquired a 19.8% interest in the European cannabis company Holigen Limited. Flowr will provide its cultivation expertise, facility design, and construction IP for use by Holigen in the construction of its facilities in Portugal and Australia and for obtaining its final licenses in those territories.
Portugal
The plan is that with the combination of the two companies, Holigen could become one of the lowest cost cannabis producers in the world. Holigen is in the final stages of obtaining one of the largest cultivation licenses in the developed world for outdoor and greenhouse facilities on 72 hectares (7.8 million square feet) in Portugal. The country’s climate, inexpensive land, and labor will mesh nicely with Flowr’s cultivation skills to bring bigger yields at a lower cost.
“The combination of Holigen’s strong management team and incredible assets along with our cultivation, design and construction IP will create what we believe will be a worldwide leader in production,” said Tom Flow, Co-CEO of Flowr.
Holigen said that it expects to complete its licensing process for its first site in Portugal by mid-2019 and expects to be one of the few licensed producers in Europe that will produce products in GMP-compliant facilities.
Holigen has applied for licenses to cultivate, manufacture, distribute, import and export medical cannabis and derived products at two sites. Holigen anticipates licenses to be granted for site 1 by Q2 2019 and site 2 by early 2020.
Australia
Holigen’s Australian facilities have already achieved GMP certifications with respect to the relabeling and release of products. In addition, the company said that it has strong ties to the country’s largest distributor of medical cannabis and holds the following medical cannabis licenses: Cultivation, R&D and Manufacturing from the Office of Drug Control and Drug Control Section Australia (Therapeutic Goods Administration) and GMP License from the TGA. Holigen is in the process of obtaining a New South Wales Schedule 8 pharmaceutical manufacturing license, which is the remaining license it requires.
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“We are delighted to be working with Flowr to develop these valuable properties and licenses into one of the leading cannabis franchises in Europe and Australia,” said Pauric Duffy, Holigen’s Co-Founder. “In addition to developing the cultivation facilities, we are hard at work developing medical cannabis brands in our key markets, preparing to leverage the distribution partnerships we are forming, and evaluating alternative product lines like infused beverages.
“Flowr has the high quality, high yield growing technology and experience that we believe will quickly allow Holigen to execute on the very significant licenses we hold and are obtaining in both Portugal and Australia,” said Peter Comerford, Holigen’s Co-Founder. “With the partnerships we are developing, we believe we will be positioned perfectly within the Australian government’s ambitious strategy for significant export of medicinal cannabis announced in January. With the licenses we are obtaining, combined with Flowr’s proven cultivation technology, we believe this transaction places both companies in a unique position to act as a true medicinal cannabis multinational.”
