International Goldfields (ASX:IGS) has hit a key milestone, completing due diligence for the acquisition of an 85% interest in Uruguay cannabis biosciences company Winter Garden Biosciences.
The company will now finalise formal documentation associated with the transaction before seeking shareholder approval and issuing a prospectus to raise funds.
Uruguay is the first nation in the world to fully legalise at the federal regulatory level the research & development, as well as cultivation, distribution, sale and consumption of non-synthetic cannabinoids and hemp.
Earlier this month, Winter Garden was awarded a range of key permits, licences and authorisations from the Uruguayan government.
It also took delivery of its first 1,000 kilograms of seed and commenced planting of its maiden crop and preparation for control work in greenhouses.
David Tasker, International Goldfields director, commented:
“We are pleased, following a very detailed legal, accounting and operational review, to have completed to our satisfaction our due diligence into Winter Garden and its operations.”
“This is a business that is uniquely placed, both in terms of physical location and where it is positioning itself in the sectors in which it operates, and as such represents a great value opportunity to IGS and its shareholders.”
The company previously agreed to acquire Winter Garden through the issue of 1.5 billion shares priced at $0.005.
Growing Interest
An article within the Uruguayan government publication, BUSQUEDA, has also generated significant interest in Winter Garden and its operations.In the article, Julian Strauss, Jardin de Invierno (Winter Garden) president, noted that Uruguay has a four year window over the rest of the world in growing hemp.
He added that hemp is an “emerging market like software was in the 90s” and that this window allows for genetic research to develop a superior hemp varieties.
“Uruguay doesn’t have the size to make an impact with quantity in the international market, so they have to appeal to quality,” he stated.
