Australia's first initial public offering in a medicinal marijuana
company is three times oversubscribed, giving high hopes to its
founder's ambitions to become "the George Clooney of medicinal
cannabis".
Perth-based Phytotech, due to list on the Australian
Securities Exchange on December 22, is seeking to raise $5 million.
Founder and executive director Ross Smith said investors - some from as
far afield as Russia and the United States - have already asked for
shares worth $15 million.
"South of the equator there's nothing available in the
medicinal cannabis sphere," Smith told Reuters by telephone. "We're
going to close it early because it's so massively oversubscribed."
Smith set up Phytotech in August to sell medicinal marijuana and
develop a disposable device to inhale the drug. He envisions any
advertising for the products to run along the lines of the ads for
Nestle Nespresso coffee machines that feature Clooney.
"I'd be on the shore of Lake Como, puffing away and two
beautiful women would come up and say, 'Is that a Phytotech?' and I'd
say 'Why, yes'," Smith said with a laugh.
According to the IPO prospectus filed with the stock market
regulator, Phytotech plans to grow medicinal grade marijuana in Israel,
the only country that allows exports of the drug, for sale in the United
States, Canada and Europe.
"South of the equator there's nothing available in the medicinal cannabis sphere," Phytotech founder Ross Smith.
It is also positioning itself for possible changes in
Australia, where the cultivation and sale of cannabis are banned. There
are trials to grow medical cannabis in a couple of states and
legislation to allow its sale is before parliament.
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