Canada Launches The World's First Cannabis ETF Fund
According to foreign media reports on the 12th, the world's first ETF fund focusing on legal cannabis business was recently listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada, which means that investors in the United States and Canada can legally invest in the rapidly growing cannabis business from now on.
The ETF, called Horizons Medical Marijuana Life Sciences, covers stocks of 14 cannabis companies, allowing investors to diversify their risk. The fund uses the North American Medical Marijuana Index as a benchmark index.
Canada has approved the legalization of medical marijuana in 2001, and Trudeau's government will unveil a bill on Thursday that will lay the groundwork for full legalization of marijuana in 2018.
According to foreign media reports, a number of medical marijuana companies in Canada are taking advantage of the increasingly relaxed regulatory environment to launch "cannabis bonds".
Alberta-based medical marijuana producer Aurora Cannabis announced Tuesday that it will offer C$75 million in convertible bonds at an interest rate of 7% per annum. The company has issued two tranches of bonds of C$15 million and C$25 million in September and October last year, with interest rates of 10% and 8% per annum, respectively.
The company plans to use the proceeds for international expansion, including the acquisition of a 19.9% stake in Australia's first company licensed to research and cultivate medical cannabis.
Shares of another cannabis company, Canopy Growth Corp, have risen sharply recently, becoming Canada's first cannabis "unicorn" with a market capitalization of over $1 billion.
In 2016, the North American medical marijuana market reached $6.7 billion, up 30% from 2015, and sales are expected to grow at an average annual rate of 25% over the next five years to reach $20.2 billion by 2021.
