Canadian nutritional-supplements firm to buy North Carolina hemp extractor

Published May 9, 2019

(This article has been updated to correct the total possible consideration for the acquisition.)

A Quebec, Canada-based supplements company has agreed to acquire a North Carolina hemp extractor, marking yet another move by a Canadian cannabis firm into the U.S. hemp industry.

Neptune Wellness Solutions, a company that makes fish-oil supplements and cannabinoid oils, will buy Sugarleaf Labs of Conover, North Carolina, for total consideration of up to $150 million in a cash and stock deal.

Here’s how the deal breaks down:
  • Neptune will pay $12 million in cash.
  • Neptune will pay Sugarleaf an additional $6 million in Neptune shares.
  • Neptune could pay up to an additional $132 million in cash and stock if Sugarleaf meets certain performance goals, payable in part over the next three years.

The deal is Neptune’s first foray into the U.S. market.

“Now is the time to establish a state-of-the-art supply chain in the U.S. marketplace,” Neptune CEO Jim Hamilton said in a statement announcing the deal.

Neptune trades as NEPT on the Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange.