The cannabis industry has been attracting some of the brightest executive leaders as well as cultural celebrities in the world, with many companies signing on these individuals to represent their brands. Today, Aurora Cannabis (TSX: ACB)(NYSE: ACB) announced that billionaire Nelson Peltz would be joining as a strategic adviser to the company while extending the option to buy almost 20 million shares of common stock at $10.34 per share.
Peltz is the CEO and founding partner of Trian Fund Management, a multi-billion-dollar investment management company. He also acts as a non-executive chairman of Wendys (NASDAQ: WEN) as well as being the director of Procter and Gamble (NYSE: PG). His previous experience includes holding director positions at Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ: KHC) and Mondelez International (NASDAQ: MDLZ).
“Nelson is a globally recognized business visionary with a strong track record of constructive engagement to generate accelerated, profitable growth and shareholder value across many industry verticals that are of great interest to us. Like us, Nelson also takes a long-term view of value creation to benefit all stakeholders,” said Aurora CEO Terry Booth. “We look forward to working with Nelson to further extend our global cannabis industry leadership by aligning Aurora with each of the major market segments cannabis is set to impact.”
In his position, the billionaire will help expand potential partnerships for Aurora along with advising the company of its global expansion strategy. Aurora is one of the leading international cannabis companies, operating in 18 different countries, including Australia, Germany, Mexico, and others. While other major cannabis companies such as Canopy Growth Corp (TSE: WEED)(NYSE: CGC) and Tilray Inc (NASDAQ: TLRY) have partnered with Fortune 500 companies in exchange for equity stakes, Aurora has remained largely independent in this regard, choosing instead to bring in individual advisers to help guide the companies growth.
“I believe Aurora has a solid execution track record, is strongly differentiated from tis peers, has achieved integration throughout the value chain and is poised to go the next level across a range of industry verticals. I also believe that Canadian licensed producers, and Aurora in particular, are well positioned to lead in the development of the international cannabis industry as regulations evolve, with a strong, globally replicable operating model,” added Nelson Peltz, now strategic advisor for the company. “I look forward to working with Terry and the extended Aurora team to evaluate its many operational and strategic opportunities, including potential engagement with mature players in consumer and other market segments.”
In response to the news, shares of Aurora jumped around 14 percent in today’s trading session, a massive jump for the 12.25 billion market cap company.
Aurora Cannabis Company Profile
Headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with funded capacity in excess of 500,000 kg per annum and sales and operations in 20 countries across five continents, Aurora is one of the world’s largest and leading cannabis companies. Aurora is vertically integrated and horizontally diversified across every key segment of the value chain, from facility engineering and design to cannabis breeding and genetics research, cannabis and hemp production, derivatives, high value-add product development, home cultivation, wholesale and retail distribution. – Aurora
