VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - May 08, 2017) -
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES OR OVER UNITED STATES WIRE SERVICES
Cannabis Wheaton Income Corp., (TSX VENTURE: CBW) ("Cannabis Wheaton" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the addition of new management and advisors, as it seeks to expand its investments in streaming and value creation platforms for the cannabis sector.
New Management Team
CHUCK RIFICI
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer
Chuck is a true pioneer of the North American cannabis industry having co-founded Canopy Growth Corporation (formerly Tweed Marijuana Inc.) and building it into 500,000 square feet of thriving cannabis grow capacity as its CEO. Today, Canopy Growth is worth over $1 billion and recognized as a world class cannabis producer.
Chuck is currently CEO of Nesta Holding Co., a private equity firm focused on building partnerships and brands within the cannabis space and Chairman of National Access Cannabis, a clinic chain helping patients access the Canadian federal medical cannabis program.
Chuck is a chartered professional accountant. He obtained his MBA from Queen's University and holds a BASc in Computer Engineering from the University of Ottawa.
JEFF TUNG, CFA
Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer
Jeff brings significant senior leadership and finance expertise to the Cannabis Wheaton team. He has managed more than USD$3 billion of deals in the Telecom, Banking, Insurance and Technology industries.
Prior to Cannabis Wheaton, Jeff was the co-founder of CPS Management Partners, where he led the acquisition of multiple businesses in the insurance administration industry. Under his leadership, CPS Management Partners and its portfolio companies became the largest workers' compensation claims administrator in Canada, returning IRRs in excess of 50% to investors. Other prior work experience includes Engagement Manager at McKinsey and Company, as well as various project and team management roles at SAP.
Jeff holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business, graduating at the top of his class, as well as a BASc of Computer Engineering from the University of British Columbia.
IAN RAPSEY
Chief Creative Officer
Ian is co-founder and chief creative officer of Nesta Holding Co. Ian is actively engaged in building brands and creative strategies for Nesta's portfolio companies.
Ian is an award-winning creative director that has worked closely with major local and international brands. He designed and implemented the brand development strategies for Canopy Growth Corporation (formerly Tweed Marijuana Inc.), positioning the brand as the undisputed leader in its market. He was also instrumental in rebranding Canopy Growth Corporation's acquisition of Bedrocan, a joint venture with the largest producer of cannabis in the Netherlands.
Prior to his work in the cannabis industry he was a creative lead in Toronto at several world-class design and branding agencies -- most notably Bruce Mau Design. While at Bruce Mau, Ian was responsible for the creative and strategic development of several branding initiatives including: SOM Architects, the Ontario Science Centre, Ask.com and LEGO's VisionLAB. He was also the lead creative on NBBJ Architects publication series and design manifesto -- Change Design.
BRAD MCNAMEE
Chief Infrastructure Officer
Brad is a second-generation mechanical contractor specializing in HVAC design and design-build services.
Most recently, Brad has focused his efforts in the cannabis industry after having been introduced to Canopy Growth Corporation (formerly Tweed Marijuana Inc.) in 2013. Brad was a key member of the original ground-breaking team tasked with pioneering a large scale indoor environmental production platform capable of delivering high yield, high quality product. Brad went on to help design and develop post-production environments for trimming and processing, drying and curing, encapsulating and storing, medical cannabis. Since then, Brad has worked alongside, and led, a group of highly qualified design and build experts in the medical cannabis industry.
Advisory Board
HUGO ALVES
Hugo is a senior corporate and commercial Partner at Bennett Jones LLP specializing in complex domestic and international transactions. He has advised industry-leading Canadian and foreign clients in connection with private mergers and acquisitions, financings, public procurements, outsourcing transactions, joint ventures and strategic alliances and has significant venture capital and private equity experience. Hugo is also Canada's leading advisor in the cannabis industry representing a variety of global industry participants, including licensed producers, licensed producer applicants, licensed dealers, e-commerce platforms, seed-to-sale software developers, design and build firms, patient clinic businesses, equipment manufacturers and distributors, and cannabis branding companies. Hugo has acted as lead counsel or played a key role in a wide variety of transactions since the inception of the cannabis industry in Canada and is widely regarded as a Canadian cannabis industry pioneer. Hugo is also an adjunct professor at Western Law where he teaches "Medical Marijuana: Law and Practice", a course he co-designed and co-developed and the first of its kind in Canada.
Hugo obtained his BA from Carleton University, where he won the Senate Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement and his JD from the University of Toronto.
RICK DYKSTRA
Rick has spent his professional career in both the private sector as an entrepreneur, and the public sector as an elected official and senior staff member. Over the years, he has developed a thorough understanding of the development of federal and provincial policy frameworks, government relations, and strategic communications.
Starting his career as a City Councillor and small business owner, Rick went on to successfully serve as a Ministerial Chief of Staff, and Policy Director at the Ontario Government's Management Board Gaming Secretariat leading the creation and expansion of gaming in Ontario. Rick has held senior roles in the Ontario Government under two Premiers and served for a decade as a 3-term Member of Parliament for St. Catharines from 2006-2015. Since 2016, he has served as President of the Ontario PC Party.
Rick has a Masters Certificate in Project Management from the Schulich School of Business at York University and a BA from Brock University.
DAVID HYDE M.Sc., CPC
David is one of Canada's top independent security consultants. Over a 32-year career, he has advised major governments and corporations, secured some of Canada's most iconic landmarks and built the enterprise security program for a $19 billion global corporation protecting 60 million square feet of facility assets across Canada and globally. David's security advisory firm, David Hyde & Associates, has extensive experience and unrivalled success in security consultation within the regulated cannabis sector across Canada and internationally.
Over the past four years under Canada's federal medical cannabis regulations, David Hyde & Associates has: (i) provided security consulting services to almost 150 MMPR/ACMPR license applicants; (ii) attended 22 Pre-License Inspections with Health Canada and; (iii) worked with 17 licensed producer sites. David Hyde & Associates recently became the first Associate Member of the Cannabis Canada Association, the industry association for licensed producers of cannabis. David sits as the only Canadian member on the Security Committee for the Foundation of Cannabis Unified Standards.
JOSHUA KAPPEL, ESQ.
Josh is a Partner at the law firm Vicente Sederberg LLC which specializes in risk-assessment for multi-national corporations and financial transactions in the highly regulated U.S. cannabis industry. Mr. Kappel was one of the drafters of Amendment 64 in Colorado which legalized cannabis for all adults. Joshua is also a founding board member of the National Cannabis Bar Association, Simplifya, VS Tech Ventures, Council for Responsible Cannabis Regulation, and the National Cannabis Bar Association.
In addition to his work with Vicente Sederberg, Josh is currently the Associate Director of SensibleColorado, advocating for medical cannabis patient rights. Josh has testified at numerous public hearings on issues related to medical cannabis, sat on many panels at various conferences, and routinely writes articles about a myriad of medical cannabis issues. Josh's work has been highlighted in the Denver Post, Colorado Springs Gazette, Westword, Kush Magazine, West Coast Leaf, and Colorado Springs Independent.
MIKE LICKVER
Mike is a corporate and commercial lawyer who specializes in all aspects of domestic and international commercial transactions. Mike is one of Canada's leading advisors in the Canadian cannabis industry representing a variety of global industry participants. Co-founding the cannabis practice at Bennett Jones LLP alongside partner Hugo Alves in 2013, Mike has played a key role in a wide variety of domestic and international corporate and commercial transactions since the inception of the corporate cannabis industry in Canada. Mike speaks frequently at conferences across North America on topics related to the cannabis industry and, a frequent author to the industry, is also the Canadian Editor of the International Cannabis Law Journal.
Mike is also on the board of advisors of Stoic Advisory Inc., a consulting firm focused on providing corporate finance expertise to clients in the global cannabis industry as well as the board of directors of Summit Leaders, a not-for-profit organization that aims to help Canadian youth engage in entrepreneurship. Mike is also an adjunct professor at Western Law where he teaches "Medical Marijuana: Law and Practice", a course he co-designed and co-developed and the first of its kind in Canada.
Mike earned Law JD and MBA degrees from the University of Western Ontario and the Richard Ivey School of Business.
KARAMDEEP NIJJAR
Karamdeep is a Partner at iNovia Capital (www.inovia.vc). iNovia currently manages over $500 million in assets across various vehicles focused on venture stage investments in emerging Digital Services and Platforms. He works closely with both existing portfolio companies and potential future investees to identify and evaluate growth opportunities. Since joining iNovia in 2010, Karamdeep has served as a Director or Observer on the Boards of Chango, Vidyard, Top Hat, Clearpath Robotics, StreetContxt, Pressly, and Triple Lift. Karamdeep also led or co-led iNovia's investments in Thalmic Labs, ROSS, CareGuide, BufferBox, Tulip Retail, and Well.ca.
Prior to joining iNovia, Karamdeep served as a subject matter expert at RBC on a variety of cross-enterprise software architecture initiatives, concentrating on strategies to maximize flexibility and reuse. Karamdeep made the transition to venture capital after completing an MBA at the Richard Ivey School of Business. He also holds a Bachelor of Mathematics in Honours Computer Sciences - Bioinformatics from the University of Waterloo.
The Company
Chuck Rifici, incoming Chairman and CEO of Cannabis Wheaton stated:
"Cannabis Wheaton is changing how the industry works together. We are focused on creating value for our partners by offering a platform that promotes new opportunities for success while licensed producers and licensed producer applicants maintain their autonomy.
We will invest in and support a wide range of licensed producers -- each with a different vision, voice and brand identity, but all sharing the common goal of creating and delivering top quality products through industry leading best practices. Cannabis Wheaton was formed to enable its partners to achieve that goal and to create the evolution of the traditional licensed producer - LP2.0.
I have been profoundly humbled at the resounding response to my efforts in assembling a management team and advisory board that is comprised of cannabis sector first-movers, visionaries and experts that are dedicated to helping our streaming partners. We are extremely excited about the future of our industry and intent on ensuring that Canadian companies remain at the forefront of the global cannabis economy."
Streaming Partners
Cannabis Wheaton's first cohort of streaming partners includes 14 outstanding companies in six provinces across Canada. Our streaming partners consist of licensed producers of cannabis (LPs) (pursuant to the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR)) and LP applicants. Collectively, our streaming agreements include future capacity of approximately 1,300,000 equivalent square feet of cannabis cultivation and production capacity net to Cannabis Wheaton by the end of 2019, according to industry recognized production averages.
Under each streaming agreement, the Company, upon the satisfaction of certain conditions precedent including having sufficient capital available for financing, performance of satisfactory due diligence and receipt by certain streaming partners of applicable regulatory approvals, Cannabis Wheaton will provide financing to the applicable streaming partner in consideration for: (i) the issuance of an equity interest in the streaming partner at an agreed-upon valuation; and (ii) an allocation of a portion of the streaming partner's cannabis production yield at either a fixed price or a cost-plus price. The yield component will be for a defined period of time ranging from 10 to 99 years depending on the streaming partner.
Patient Access
Through its patient service agreements, the Company also has access to a variety of patient service companies' platforms which collectively operate 39 physical cannabis clinics and/or resource centres across Canada as well as multiple virtual clinics. The patient service companies collectively service more than 30,000 medical cannabis patients currently registered under the ACMPR.
Each of the patient service agreements is with an industry-leading patient service company which has been, and continues to be, instrumental in educating Canadians and Canadian medical professionals on the viability of cannabis as a medical treatment option and aiding qualifying patients in gaining access to medical cannabis. The Company will work collaboratively with each patient service company to ensure that patients who are medically authorized to access medical cannabis have the professional guidance and assistance they require to make informed decisions about the access and use of cannabis as a medical treatment.
Other Matters
The Company also announces the resignation of each of Maurice Levesque (President and director) and Stephen McCoach (Chairman and director) and thanks both of them for their long and successful service with the Company.
The directors of Cannabis Wheaton have adopted a new rolling 10% incentive stock option plan, subject to approval by shareholders.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
"Chuck Rifici"
Chairman & CEO
About Cannabis Wheaton Income Corp.
Backed by a team of industry experts, Cannabis Wheaton is the first cannabis streaming company in the world. Its streams will include production from across Canada coming from its partners comprised of licensed producers of cannabis (LP) and LP applicants. Cannabis Wheaton's mandate is to facilitate real growth for our streaming partners by providing financial support and sharing our collective industry experience with our streaming partners.
Stay Connected
For more information about Cannabis Wheaton and our management team, please visit http://www.cannabiswheaton.com, or follow us on Twitter @CannabisWheaton. Call: 1-604 687 7130 Email: Mario@skanderbegcapital.com http://www.skanderbegcapital.com
This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or information that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. This information is only a prediction. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking information throughout this news release. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to: the ability to generate revenue through the streaming agreements, requirements to obtain additional financing, timeliness of government approvals for granting of permits and licences, including licences to cultivate cannabis, completion of the facilities, where applicable, actual operating performance of the facilities, regulatory or political change, competition and other risks affecting the Company in particular and the medical cannabis industry generally. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is made, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. The Company is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
The securities referred to in this news release have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons absent U.S. registration or an applicable exemption from the U.S. registration requirements. This release does not constitute an offer for sale of, nor a solicitation for offers to buy, any securities in the United States.
