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Village Farms’ shares up 20% on news it has applied to list on Nasdaq

Vancouver-based company to increase U.S. operations now that hemp growing is federally legal
puresunfarms-rk
Pure SunFarms' greenhouse complex in Delta is about 1.1 million square feet | Rob Kruyt

Vancouver-based Village Farms International Inc. (TSX:VFF) saw its shares jump more than 20% on January 21, after the company revealed that it has applied to list on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange will continue to trade, the company said.

The listing application was prompted in part by the U.S. government passing the Agricultural Improvement Act, better known as the farm bill. That bill became law on December 20, and legalized the production of hemp at the federal level in the U.S.

Hemp is a variety of cannabis that has low levels of the psychoactive ingredient THC, and higher levels of the cannabinoid CBD, which helps people with conditions such as pain and anxiety.

“As a company with substantive U.S. assets and operations and, with our recently announced intention to aggressively pursue potential opportunities in the now federally legal U.S. hemp and CBD industry, the listing of our common shares on Nasdaq is intended to provide broader exposure to, and greater liquidity for, U.S. investors,” said Village Farms’ CEO Michael DeGiglio.

“A Nasdaq listing will provide Village Farms with access to the largest equity market in the world to support our intended hemp and CBD growth strategy should U.S. state laws follow the U.S. federal decision to legalize hemp, as well as, potentially, for cannabis, in the event that it is federally legalized in the U.S.”

Nasdaq representatives still have to approve the application to list on the exchange, and Village Farms has to show that it has met all listing requirements.

Village Farms also announced that its Canadian cannabis joint venture with Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. (TSX-Venture: EMH), Pure Sunfarms, has converted a final quadrant of growing area in its 1.1 million square foot greenhouse complex in Delta.

Village Farms has applied to Health Canada to amend Pure Sunfarms’ cultivation licence to expand the permitted production area in that greenhouse facility by 344,000 square feet, to more than 1.03 million square feet. Pure Sunfarms is converting the remaining 69,000 square feet in the facility to be used to extract cannabinoids and terpenes from cannabis buds.

Pure Sunfarms is also waiting for Health Canada to finish its review of its packaging-license application.  If Pure Sunfarms gets that licence, it plans to start selling directly to provincial government distributors. In the meantime, it is selling products to other licensed producers.

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