FastForward Innovations Ltd agrees to sell interest in cannabis firm EMMAC Life
The AIM-listed firm said it will sell its 6.7mln shares in EMMAC as well as a £750,000 convertible loan note for around £5.04mln as part of the investee’s takeover by North American cannabis group Curaleaf
FastForward Innovations Ltd () said it has agreed to sell its entire interest in cannabis firm as part of a takeover of the investee by North American cannabis consumer products group Curaleaf Holdings Inc () ().
The AIM-listed firm said it will sell its 6.7mln shares in EMMAC as well as a £750,000 convertible loan note for around £5.04mln, and that it expects to record a profit from the sale of around £1.9mln compared to the September 2020 carrying value of the equity and cost price of the convertible loan note, and an overall return of 1.86 times its original investment.
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The company also said that due to regulatory conditions surrounding Curaleaf’s involvement in the recreational cannabis market in North America, it will be unable to participate in the Curaleaf transaction, and as such the sale of its stake will be to an unrelated third party.
FastForward said that it intends to use the proceeds of the sale to make further investments in accordance with its policy.
“This is an extremely positive outcome for FastForward and we are delighted to have made a significant return on our original investment in EMMAC, further increasing our confidence in our investment strategy and our ability to deliver financial gains, particularly in the medical cannabis, cannabinoid wellness and life sciences sectors. The current legal and regulatory framework within which we work makes it impossible for us to continue to invest in the EMMAC/ Curaleaf story despite our confidence in this investment,” FastForward chairman Ian Burns said in a statement.
“The proceeds from the sale, together with our existing cash resources means we are extremely well placed to make significant further investments to expand our portfolio in what is currently a very active time in the market.
“This is the second liquidity event that has occurred recently within our portfolio, following in very close succession after Yooma’s reverse take over of Globalive as announced on 11 February 2021. With two of our other investee companies also currently gearing up for liquidity events, we hope to continue this momentum and achieve similar outcomes in these other investments in due course,” Burns added.
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