Aurora Cannabis breaks into Mexico market with acquisition

24-Jan-2019 - Last updated on 24-Jan-2019 at 16:07 GMT

Canada-based Aurora Cannabis, a supplier of cannabis raw materials, has agreed to acquire all the outstanding shares in Mexican business Farmacias Magistrales.

It is currently the only business in Mexico that has a license to import cannabis materials containing more than 1% THC, making it a strong footing to help expand the supply of medical marijuana in the country.

But additionally the company is also licenses to produce cannabinoids for other purposes, including CBD for a range of cosmetic and personal care products.

Only licences importer in Mexico

Farmacias is the first and only federally licensed importer of raw materials containing THC in Mexico, having gained the required license for processing facilities as well as permission to import raw THC material to be manufactured, stored and distributed for medical cannabis products.

Executives at Aurora Cannabis believe this is a major turning point for the development of their business in Latin America, given that Mexico is such a leading market, both respect to population size and the economy.

Famacias owns and operates a 12,000 square foot facility in Mexico City for the production of a wide range of pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic products.

The cosmetics products are focused on anti-aging creams, hair growth products and tanning lotions, while the pharmaceuticals are for kidney, blood disease and anesthetic medications, while the nutraceutical product are protein powders and vitamin supplements.

Farmacias has developed a strong distribution network for CBD products with approximately 80,000 points of sale throughout Mexico, as well as 500 pharmacies.

Increasing Aurora's LATAM footprint

The acquisition will serve to increase Aurora’s footprint in Latin America, while also complimenting its existing CBD production footprint in both Colombia and Uruguay.

"Farmacias has a large distribution network of both retail outlets and pharmacies, which will enable us to quickly scale up our operations across Mexico,” said Terry Booth, CEO of Aurora.

“Integrating Farmacias with our operations in Canada and Latin America will not only accelerate growth, it will build substantial long-term shareholder value."