TransCanna (TCAN.C) made it abundantly clear Monday there will be no post-independence day hangover at the Canadian cannabis producer. The company not only laid out its five-phase growth strategy – the highlights from its recent investor call – but also announced the acquisition of a California-based marketing firm.
In an official Monday press release, TransCanna confirmed it had signed a definitive agreement to buy The Goodfellas Group, one of California’s leading cannabis marketers. TransCanna not only snatched up Goodfellas’ management team and sales force, it secured full rights to Simple Farms and Daily Cannabis Goods, two of the company’s in-house brands.
The deal also includes Bioville, a CBD-infused coconut oil that Goodfellas committed to buy in the spring.
The deal, which will be finalized Tuesday, is worth US$520,000.
Nam Tran, Goodfellas’ managing member, says the merger will allow his company to overcome major challenges tied to manufacturing and distribution.
“The main challenge that GoodFellas has been facing is the limitations from third party manufacturing and distribution companies to be able to provide quality services on a consistent basis,” Tran said. “This has significantly limited our ability to expand into the majority of the dispensaries in California. However, being part of the TransCanna team will allow us to expand throughout the state.”
TransCanna has an extremely rigorous approach to brand selection, which means investors should feel pretty excited about Goodfellas. TransCanna’s management team has reviewed over 100 brands in California and only invests in companies that have SKU velocity, strong management and differentiated products.
Goodfellas: A piece of a much larger puzzle
The Goodfellas acquisition hit the news wire at 6:42 a.m. ET. One minute earlier, at 6:41 a.m. ET, TransCanna circulated a press release laying out a five-phase strategy for expanding its business.
The five-phase strategy, which was presented to TransCanna investors July 3, includes:
- Acquiring physical assets and increasing scalability
- Hiring and retaining the best management staff
- Identifying high-quality acquisition targets
- Building an internal distribution system
- Developing and implementing a proprietary software solution
On the physical-asset front, TransCanna is putting its money where its mouth is.
The company recently acquired a facility in Modesto, California for US$15 million. The 196,000 square-foot processing plant is being transformed into a vertically-integrated cannabis operation.
Modesto gives TransCanna two massive multi-purpose facilities in California. Last year, the company completed a sub-lease of a 10,000 square-foot facility in Adelanto.
Goodfellas’ Simple Farms and Daily Cannabis Goods brands will be developed at either of the two facilities once California approves the transportation and distribution licenses.
Read: TransCanna Holdings (TCAN.C) closes a California real estate deal and the market takes note
TCAN: Buying the dip
After a torrid start to 2019, shares of TransCanna have corrected sharply lower over the past two months. Investors who couldn’t lock-in at the post-IPO price will find the correction comforting given TransCanna’s impressive fundamentals.
Since peaking at CAD$7.69 on Apr. 25, TCAN stock has declined by more than a third. But context is everything: TCAN is up 400% from its IPO price for a total market capitalization of $46.8 million.
TCAN shares were down with the broader market on Monday, as the Canadian, U.S. and North American marijuana indexes opened lower. TCAN stock watchers should keep tabs on the company’s California operations, as they represent a massive growth opportunity in a still-nascent market that is still finding its way.
The state’s legal marijuana sector is said to be worth just over $5 billion in 2019, according to BDS Analytics. That figure is expected to top $25 billion in six years.
–Sam Bourgi
Full Disclosure: TransCanna is an Equity.Guru marketing client.
I’m a strong believer TCAN, buying the dips!
Important fact missed in the story, stock is down due to all the cheap shares that were issued at $0.10 and lower coming free trading. I guess when the company is a marketing client of yours, it something that is kept silent in this story although will give you credit for mentioning in a previous story.
Thanks for the comment, M. Clearly there’s more than one reason why TCAN corrected lower, but it’s still up 400% from the IPO, which suggests it’s still doing pretty damn well. And it looks like someone way smarter than me already covered the cheap share issuance. I just wanted to draw attention to the fact that a popular marijuana stock is way cheaper now than it was a few months ago.