As Canada prepares to legalize recreational pot, “everybody is jockeying for position leading up to Oct. 17,” said the spokesman for a Leamington pot producer being eyed for takeover by a Toronto-based medical marijuana producer and distributor.
Emblem Corp., headquartered in Toronto but with production facilities in Paris, Ont., has signed a “letter of intent” to purchase Natura Naturals Inc., a former greenhouse grower of tomatoes and cucumbers that has been transitioning to cannabis production.
The estimated value of the Leamington acquisition is $76 million, according to a joint news release from the two companies. A spokesman for Natura, who asked not to be named due to a “blackout period” on information sharing before the actual sale, said the purchase should be finalized “very soon.”
Natura Naturals, with about 50 employees in Leamington, was owned by Claudio Mastronardi, a founding partner of agricultural greenhouse operation MCM Acres who died of a sudden heart attack in June at age 46.
Last September, Natura was issued a cannabis cultivating licence by Health Canada and has since been converting its 662,000-square-foot hydroponic operation into a medical marijuana-growing facility.
