First Big Tobacco company to enter hemp market files for bankruptcy

Published June 17, 2020

(This story has been updated to reflect that Pyxus trades on the Nasdaq.)

The first Big Tobacco company to join the hemp and marijuana industries has filed for bankruptcy protection.

Pyxus International, one of the world’s largest tobacco suppliers, was hard hit by declining tobacco consumption and coronavirus-sparked supply disruptions.

The company also grows hemp in the U.S. and marijuana in Canada.

Based in Morrisville, North Carolina, Pyxus filed a prepackaged plan to reduce debt by $400 million and give control to a group of bondholders, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The company’s Canadian marijuana operations, Figr Brands, aren’t part of the bankruptcy filing, an executive said.

Pyxus, formerly Alliance One International, was part of the influx of Big Tobacco and Alcohol into the cannabis industry.

Pyxus trades as PYX on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.