LOS ANGELES, California, June 29, 2021 – PRESS RELEASE - Vertical Wellness, a company in the branded health and wellness space, has announced a merger with CanaFarma Hemp Products Corp., a full-service company operating in the hemp industry offering a full range of hemp-related products and services.
The Vertical Wellness management team, including CEO J. Smoke Wallin, will run the combined business. The combined company will go under CanaFarma Corp. as the corporate entity but will keep the Vertical Wellness name.
This merger will make Vertical Wellness the first house of cannabidiol (CBD) brands to go public. The combined company will be worth over $50 million but could be significantly higher depending on stock price post-announcement.
CanaFarma went public in March 2020 just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The company had a successful IPO on the Canadian Securities Exchange, trading up to about $1.50 a share and ending up being an over $200 million market cap company.
“This is a platform for Vertical Wellness to fulfill its vision. To launch a portfolio of brands along a vast array of categories and segments requires resources, and the CanaFarma deal enables us to attract those resources at a scale we need," Wallin said. "It's a great combination because we can pursue our goal to become the preeminent brand company in the cannabinoid-derived health and wellness space.”
Vitaly Fargesen, senior vice president of strategic planning at CanaFarma Hemp said, “CanaFarma Hemp was founded with the express intention to be a large-scale brand company in the health and wellness space. Since early 2021, we have looked for the right opportunity to accelerate our mission through a business combination. Smoke and his team at Vertical Wellness are exactly what we were looking for, and our investor base could not be more excited to have him lead our combined company.”
