Canadian cannabis giant Canopy Growth Corp (TSE:WEED) has applied to become the world’s first cannabis producer to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The pot producing firm said today that it expects shares to begin trading on the NYSE under the trading symbol CGC before the end of May this year, according to a Bloomberg report. The firm’s shares currently trade under the symbol WEED on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada, where prices are valued at $32.95 CAD at the time of writing, up 8.71%. Today’s surge in prices is likely due in part to today’s announcement and brings the firm’s market cap to $6.53 billion CAD.
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Earlier this year, Canopy Growth Corp CEO Bruce Linton said he was only a day away from applying to list the firm on the NASDAQ stock exchange, before shifting his focus to other matters. Today, he said he chose the NYSE instead, noting that “Ultimately one of them is on Wall Street and has a bit more history and cache”.
Canopy Growth Corp is Canada’s biggest cannabis producer. If the NYSE listing goes as planned, it will be the second time that the company has achieved a stock market first for a pot firm; in April 2014, Canopy Growth Corp became the first federally approved pot producer in North America to be publicly traded when it was listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. It has since graduated to the TSX.
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Listing on the NYSE is a major cannabis industry breakthrough in more ways than one. At a federal level, cannabis is still illegal in the U.S., and Canopy Growth Corp doesn’t actually run any growth operations in the country. It will, therefore, be interesting to see how U.S. investors will react to the stock. If its success on Canadian exchanges is anything to go by, the firm could see significant growth as it continues its mission to “build the global cannabis industry,” according to Mr. Linton. Although Canopy Growth Corp will be the first pot producer on the NYSE, it will not be the first publicly-traded cannabis company in the US. That title belongs to Cronos Group (NASDAQ:CRON) , which began trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange in February this year.
Featured image: CNN Money
