U.S. Hemp Firm Charlotte's Web Boosts Canada IPO to $77 Million

(Bloomberg) -- Charlotte’s Web Holdings Inc., a producer of hemp-based cannabidoil products, boosted its Canadian initial public offering 52 percent to C$100.1 million ($77 million).

The Boulder, Colorado-based company priced its shares at C$7 a share, the top end of its previously announced range of between C$6 and C$7 apiece, according to a regulatory filing late Wednesday. The company sold more than it originally anticipated, 14.3 million shares in total, raising proceeds from the offering from a previously expected C$65.8 million, the filing shows.

The share price will give CWB Holdings a valuation of about C$650 million. The company is expected to list on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol CWEB.

CWB Holdings is the latest in a string of U.S. cannabis companies listing in Canada. In May, Los Angeles-based MedMen Enterprises Inc. went public through a reverse takeover on the Canadian Securities Exchange.

CWB Holdings sold C$93.2 million worth of its shares from the treasury with the remaining C$6.9 million from existing shareholders. The company said it also planned to do a concurrent non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of C$6.1 million.

The proceeds from the treasury offering and private placement will be used to expand its production capacity, cultivation infrastructure, research and product development and other general corporate purposes.

The share sale was led by Canaccord Genuity Group Inc., GMP Securities, and PI Financial Corp., the filing shows.

CWB Holdings grows its proprietary hemp on farms leased in northeastern Colorado and sources hemp through contract farming in Kentucky and Oregon, the filing shows. It had $40 million in sales in 2017, up from $14.7 million the year before. Its adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization grew to $14.1 million in 2017 from $2 million the year before, the filing shows.

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Deveau in New York at sdeveau2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, Jacqueline Thorpe, Steven Frank

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