Canopy Growth Warns Its Plans for the U.S. Could See It Delisted From Nasdaq

Canopy Growth Corporation on Tuesday announced a strategy to accelerate its entry into the U.S. cannabis industry. But, in the same filing, the company issued a warning that Nasdaq “has raised concerns” about the company’s U.S. investments — which could see Canopy delisted from the stock exchange.

Nasdaq has objected to the company’s plan to consolidate the finances of its new U.S.-based holding company, Canopy USA, with the company’s Canadian operations.  Canopy, currently listed on the exchange, has plans to acquire and consolidate three U.S. companies: Edibles maker Wana of Boulder, CO, cannabis extractor Jetty of Oakland, CA and New York-based Acreage Holdings. In 2019, MSO Acreage agreed to be acquired by Canopy Growth, contingent upon federal permissibility of cannabis in the U.S.

“Nasdaq has proposed that such consolidation is impermissible under Nasdaq’s general policies,” the company stated.

In its SEC filing, Canopy notes that Nasdaq prohibits the listing of companies with interests in cannabis. No companies who deal directly with marijuana inside the U.S. are traded on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq. Currently, Canopy only sells CBD products in the U.S. Nasdaq  has objected to Canopy’s core Canadian business collecting the revenue, or suffering the huge potential losses, of acquiring of businesses that are still federally classified illegal.

“While we believe that we comply with all applicable laws and regulations, there is a risk that our interpretation of laws, regulations, and guidelines, may differ from those of others … In the event of an aggressive enforcement policy, the United States Department of Justice could allege that we and the Board, and potentially our Shareholders, ‘aided and abetted’ violations of U.S. federal law,” the company says in its filing.

Smiths Falls, ON.-based Canopy Growth is a global cannabinoid company with operations across four continents and 14 countries.