Vancouver-based cannabis-branding and real estate venture CROP Infrastructure Corp. (SCE:CROP) has spent slightly more than US$8 million to buy some cannabis licences and a 1,012-acre property in Nevada through a joint venture that it has with Elite Ventures Group. CROP owns 49% of that joint venture.
CROP is an acronym for Cannabis Real Estate Opportunity Portfolio, and it is structured similarly to some real estate investment trusts in that it owns, operates or finances income-producing real estate. The company has a number of properties, including cultivation properties in California, Washington state and Nevada.
The structure of the financing of the transaction for the Nevada property is that CROP has paid US$3,950,900 for 169 acres, including a down payment for 20-year vendor financing for the remaining 843 acres. There will also be US$4,058,100 amortized over 20 years for that remaining 843 acres of the real estate.
It is now building a wall around the property and expects to have 40 acres planted this year.
The project in Esmerelda County still needs about US$250,000 in financing, and CROP expects that once it is complete it will yield 80,000 pounds of cannabis that can produce 15,000 kilograms of distillate. CROP plans to build extraction facilities on site to extract cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol (CBD) and Tetrahydrocannabinol.
The current price for extracted product in Nevada is approximately US$20,000 per kilogram of distillate, or approximately US$1,000 per pound of outdoor flower, the company said in a release.
“Closing this acquisition is the largest transaction Crop has ever completed to date, said CROP CEO Michael Yorke.
“CROP now has the largest licensed recreational cannabis farm in the U.S. and perhaps the world with over 1,000 acres of which 40 acres will be planted this year.”
CROP is also among the many cannabis companies that are getting into the cannabis-infused drinks space, given that it has its Canna Drink brand.
Recent news last week in the cannabis infused drinks space included Vancouver’s Invictus MD Strategies Corp. (TSX-V:GENE) signing a letter of intent to team up with Kiss frontman Gene Simmons to use Simmons’ Money Bag Sodas and Rock Steady Sodas brands to make non-alcoholic, CBD-infused beverages to be distributed across the U.S. and Canada.
Vancouver-based licensed cannabis producer Sproutly Canada Inc. (CSE:SPR) then partnered with New Brunswick brewer Moosehead Breweries Ltd. to create a joint venture that will produce cannabis-infused drinks.
