Pot stocks are blazing to new highs and one of the biggest winners is a private equity fund backed by tech-investor and Trump supporter Peter Thiel.
Bloomberg reports that Privateer Holdings Inc.owns 76 percent of Tilray, the Canadian marijuana company whose shares soared 65 percent on Wednesday and are up more than 10 fold since its public offering in July. According to Bloomberg, that stake is now worth more than $12 billion.
Tilray is now the world’s largest pot company by market cap, worth more than $20 billion. Investors have sent the stock on a parabolic rise as Canada gears up to legalize pot in October.
From Bloomberg:
Thiel’s Founders Fund became the first institutional investor in the cannabis industry through Privateer Holdings’ $75 million Series B financing round in December 2014, according to the company’s website….
Tilray, based in the Vancouver Island town of Nanaimo, has drawn more interest than most pot stocks, in part due to its listing on the Nasdaq, making it easier for U.S. investors and hedge funds to get a piece of the action. The limited number of shares available for trading may also be adding to the volatility, making it more expensive for skeptical investors to short the stock.
Citron Research said it remains short on Tilray, calling the stock’s surge “beyond comprehension” in a Tweet Wednesday.
There’s a lot of speculation that drug-makers or traditional beverage makers may look to acquire some of the pot companies. Tilray’s chief executive, Brendan Kennedy, says he is not interested in being acquired.
“I don’t want to get bought by AB-InBev or Diageo, I want to be that company,” he said,
Kennedy, a graduate of Yale’s School of Management, is also one of the founders of Privateer Holdings. According to Bloomberg, when unlisted Class 1 shares are included, Privateer’s holdings are now worth more than $15 billion.
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