@MickawaYou can invest in any company you like that is not listed on the ASX. You just need to know they exist, meet with management, and see if they are looking for funding. You could have invested in Ecofibre in any of the last 25 years or so.This incarnation of the company has been raising private funds for the last two years. You just had to know. "Private Placements" are a thing. Problem is, by their very nature, private placements may not be advertised.
You must know somebody and it must be offered privately.The prospectus we saw this week was OK, but a lot of the "real story" of Ecofibre was glaringly omitted. I was there since almost the beginning.
This company has been around for 30 years on an uphill slog against stupid regulations and laws in Australia: Australian Hemp Resource and Manufacture (AHRM) was formed by Phil Warner (https://au.linkedin.com/in/philip-warner-203b3323) specifically to research into the potential development of the bast fibre industry in Australia around 1989.The primary intention was to identify the areas of most crucial importance needed in developing and sustaining domestic production and value adding industries within regional Australia.
Such an industry would assist not only regional development (rural and manufacturing) but also contribute to the balance of trade (by way of exporting finished product) and intellectual property development (processing patients and plant breeder's rights). AHRM was re-incorporated as "Ecofibre" around 1996.
Phil Warner always liked to say that Ecofibre was all about "Putting business back in the bush and putting the bush back in business".
Well, that was the original intention all those years ago when "Ecofibre" was basically a political lobbying firm with a lawyer and an agronomist on staff and paddock out back. The law in Australia moves slowly, and during 99% of the time that Ecofibre has existed, the laws were against them, and while the germplasm grew and the research looked bright, the revenues where hard to come by in Australia.
It is interesting to note that the current CEO of Elixinol, Paul Benheim, was an EMPLOYEE of Ecofibre during the 2000s. (Redaction 1) Paul traded away his Ecofibre shares for an empty shelf company we had called "Hemp Foods Australia" and he used it to (Redaction 2). He (Redaction 3) the farming part, and to this day the Elixinol business pretty much consists of importing hempseed from (Redaction 4). That continues to this day.
I wouldn't touch Elixinol with a 10 foot pole. Because Paul is a (Redaction 5).
Around 2014, Phil decided it was time to explore the changing legal scene in the US and started creating partnerships with Kentucky growers to perform legal trials there. Political lobbying and university partnerships ensued. Phil Warner set the scene for what is now happening today in Ecofibre's current incarnation.
What you are buying now started here, because of Phil: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ecofibre-sends-6-tons-of-australian-certified-hemp-seed-to-usa-and-prepares-for-commercial-activities-via-its-usa-subsidiary-united-life-science-300282462.html
Along the way, he met Micheal Mona Jr., the founder of "CV Life Sciences" (previously known as "Cannavest". I was there. I didn't like him and told Phil so. Phil didn't like him either. We did not sell him hemp seed, because we didn't think he'd pay.
A few months later, we read this: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2014/03/26/high-times-inside-the-pot-stock-bubble/#19f5ad0b6b05So yeah, shady ALLEGEDLY mafia connected guy. My gut is usually good on these things. Mike Mona Jr went on to source his hemp seed from...(Redaction 6) instead of Ecofibre, and there have been a lot of accusations of (Redaction 7)... Mona had to settle with the SEC for fraud in 2017. https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2017/06/16/sec-charges-poster-boy-of-pot-penny-stock-bubble-with-fraud/#4b7d3295608a
So CV Life Sciences? Elixinol? Yeah, I wouldn't touch those. Micheal Mona "stepped down" recently, but his (Redaction 8) son "Micheal Mona III" is still there as "COO". So you can be pretty sure (Redaction 9) is still pulling the strings.
Once Phil Warner set all the wheels in motion in the US, and the Congress passed the "Farm Bill" legalising the cultivation of industrial hemp in the US due largely to Phil's efforts, the big money started sniffing around. Barry Lambert. Eric Wang, the new CEO.
Long story short, in mid 2018, Phil Warner was asked by his new smart professional team of investors to "step down".They bought out some of his equity and arranged for some of their friends to buy some too. Phil continues to have about 18% of the company going forward ("Warneroo" in the prospectus). But he is now under a geographically delimited "non-compete agreement" for a few years. So he is taking it easy now, while continuing to speak at conferences and learn.
It would have been possible to invest in Ecofibre in any of the last 25 years or so. I did. No "institutional raise" is necessary when you are not listed on the ASX.
A lot of the most recent investments came from acquaintances of current management, of which I am pretty sure "David" and "MG" probably are.I got my shares due to my loyalty to the company during my tenure from 2004 to 2008 and various consulting gigs afterwards. Phil had the integrity to not forget me, and about 40 other people who loyally contributed to keeping the Ecofibre dream alive during tough, thin times.
He GAVE us equity out of his part. So the moral of this story is that Ecofibre was built with a level of integrity I do not see in the other "comparable" companies.
I do have a lot of confidence in the guys running Ecofibre now. They are pros. I will (finally!) make some money from hemp along side of these pros. But they did throw the founder, Phil Warner, under the bus and erase him from the company history.
You are investing in the research and the political efforts and the largest hemp germplasm in the world that was collected by Phil Warner over the last 25 years or so.
Google "hemp" + "Phil Warner".
Meet the guy who's tenacity built Ecofibre.They don't mention him in the prospectus. The Prospectus reads like Ecofibre sprang to life fully formed once Barry Lambert got interested in it.
Ecofibre exists today because of the stubborn efforts of a guy named Phil Warner. He has been erased from the company history. And that's a shame.
HODL this along with me.
(I am not sure if there is a Direct Message facility on HotCopper. But if there is, you may DM me for the Redaction Key)
