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At a time when many are giving up on investing in cannabis, Jason Wild, the executive chair of TerrAscend Corp. (TSX:TSND) (OTCQX:TRSSF) and his colleagues managed to raise $21 million in equity and senior unsecured convertible debentures through two rounds of funding and list on Toronto Stock Exchange on July 4. The sum included investments from smaller contributions ranging between $10,000 and $50,000.
The company's stock has been trading under the new ticker symbol "TSND" since then, allowing it to "no longer be at the mercy of U.S. regulatory reform," said Wild, who is a keynote speaker at the upcoming Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Chicago.
As a pioneer in the space, being the first American cannabis multistate operator to trade on TSX, TerrAscend now has access to more institutional capital and deeper-pocketed investors. Moreover, U.S. multinational investment bank Morgan Stanely removed all restrictions from the stock following the listing, Wild tweeted.
TerrAscend, which has operations in Canada and the U.S., also underwent an internal reorganization as a condition to reach the TSX listing. The process required approval from the company's shareholders.
"We've got what we think is a really good growth story out of this," Wild told MJBizDaily's Kate Robertson in a recent interview. "I'm super grateful that we're not where we were a year ago."
The company's first-quarter results reported in May are a testament to that.
"Despite a challenging environment, revenue in the first quarter increased 42.8% year-over-year, gross margins significantly improved by 420 basis points sequentially to 48.8% and, importantly, we generated positive free cash flow of $5.9 million," Wild commented on the financial report.
Originally a pharmacist, Wild told those gathered at a previous Benzinga conference in New York that he was much more interested in the stock market and "investing in pharmaceutical stocks as opposed to filling prescriptions."
After starting a fund in 1998, Wild was primarily focused on pharmaceutical investments. Almost two decades later, his focus had shifted to medical cannabis companies in Canada.
"I was really excited to hear about all the true medical uses for cannabis," he said, adding that during his trip to Canada around 2015 or 2016, he heard about CBD for the first time.
"At first, we were only doing Canada because I was honestly worried about getting arrested running a fund here in New York," Wild said.
However, after making a "large investment" in TerrAscend toward the end of 2017, "we pivoted the fun into the U.S."
In early 2019, TerrAscend expanded south of the border and established a presence in the U.S. through the $118.4-million acquisition of California-based retailer Apothecarium.
Want to meet Jason Wild and other cannabis CEOs, advocates and politicians such as Gov. J B Prtitker (a keynote speaker!) and the many fascinating women and men who make this industry so exciting?
Then join us at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference, the place where deals get done, which is returning to Chicago this Sept 27-28 for its 17th edition.
Get your tickets today before prices increase and secure a spot at the epicenter of cannabis investment and branding.
Photo: Courtesy of Stefan Balaz by Shutterstock and Peter Pike by Pixabay
