Staff
Vertical Wellness has announced a merger with CanaFarma Hemp Products Corp. [CSE: CNFA], a full-service company operating in the hemp industry offering a full range of hemp-related products and services. The Vertical Wellness management team, including CEO J. Smoke Wallin, will run the combined business. The combined company will go under CanaFarma Corp. as the corporate entity but will keep the Vertical Wellness name.
“This is a platform for Vertical Wellness to fulfill its vision. To launch a portfolio of brands along a vast array of categories and segments requires resources, and the CanaFarma deal enables us to attract those resources at a scale we need,” says Vertical Wellness CEO J. Smoke Wallin. “It’s a great combination because we can pursue our goal to become the preeminent brand company in the cannabinoid-derived health and wellness space.”
The combined company will be worth over $50 million but could be significantly higher depending on stock price post-announcement. Vertical Wellness has operations in California and Kentucky and cultivated over 1,800 acres of hemp on partner farms last season. The Company has been one of the largest processors of hemp globally with over 22 million lbs owned, processed or contracted in 2020.
CanaFarma went public in March 2020 just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The company had a successful IPO on the Canadian Securities Exchange, trading up to about $1.50 a share and ending up being an over $200 million market cap company. However, in January of this year, CanaFarma received notice from the British Columbia Securities Commission that the BCSC would be converting its previously received management cease trade order into a failure to file cease trade order. The filings were released in February and trading resumed.
Vitaly Fargesen, SVP Strategic Planning at CanaFarma Hemp said, “CanaFarma Hemp was founded with the express intention to be a large-scale brand company in the health and wellness space. Since early 2021, we have looked for the right opportunity to accelerate our mission through a business combination. Smoke and his team at Vertical Wellness are exactly what we were looking for, and our investor base could not be more excited to have him lead our combined company.”
