Australis Capital announced today that, further to its press release dated January 5, 2021, the Company has entered into a definitive agreement with the principals of ALPS for the acquisition of 51% of the issued and outstanding shares in ALPS. The definitive agreement has an option permitting the Company to acquire the remaining 49%. Furthermore, the ALPS Transaction also includes the appointment of Terry Booth as AUSA's CEO upon completion.
Accretive transaction to deliver rapid growth
Since its management buyout from Aurora Cannabis in May 2020, ALPS has rapidly built a blue-chip roster of global customers and a growing pipeline of potential new deals. ALPS currently is executing on a number of contracts, including four that were signed and announced in the past month:
- Aurora Cannabis - Annual ongoing services contract, multiple locations globally
- Cann Group - Cannabis facility contract + APIS extended services contract in Australia
- Multiple undisclosed cannabis related contracts in the U.S.
Bluehouse Greenhouse – 62 acre vegetable facility contract in California, U.S. - Vertical Harvest – 200,000 sqft multi-level urban facility contract in Wyoming, U.S.
- Aldershot Greenhouses – 200,000 sqft facility expansion contract in Ontario, Canada
- 200,000 sqft small plant production facility in Finland
20,000 sqft crop research facility in northern U.S.
Tropica – facility for the cultivation of aquarium plants in Germany - McMaster University, life Science Centre, Ontario, Canada
Queen, Denmark – ornamental plants - Middle East – large fruit & vegetable facility
The ALPS Transaction, upon closing, will be immediately accretive to AUSA results, with further material growth anticipated in the coming months.
Enabling capital-light strategy execution
In addition to delivering profitable revenue growth to AUSA, the ALPS Transaction is a key enabler of the Company's strategy to secure access to low-cost, hi-quality biomass to fuel the scale up of its brands. The ALPS Transaction, and the pending acquisition of Green Therapeutics LLC ("GT") by the Company (the "GT Transaction"), which is progressing well towards completion, signals a pivot for AUSA from investment company to becoming a formidable, highly recognizable MSO.
While other companies use third-party cultivated inputs for the manufacturing of their products, the AUSA model, through leveraging ALPS IP with its partners, is expected to result in a strongly reduced cost of goods sold. Furthermore, ALPS' three decades of experience in optimized facility design results in high-quality, high yield products at low operating expenses, further strengthening the AUSA brand proposition. Consequently, through its ownership of ALPS, AUSA with its strong network will look to set the standard of cannabis cultivation, processing and manufacturing globally.
For more information:
AUSA corporation 
press@ausa-corp.com
www.ausa-corp.com