What happened
Shares of greenhouse produce company Village Farms (VFF 8.13%), which has been refocusing on the marijuana space, rose as much as 11.5% in morning trading on Monday. As of 2:21 p.m. EST, it was up by about 10%. Two pieces of financial news from the company largely drove those gains.
So what
In November, Village Farms took full control of cannabis grower Pure Sunfarms, which it had established as a joint venture with Emerald Health Therapeutics. For the roughly 41% of the JV that it did not already own, Village Farms paid $45 million in cash and a roughly $15 million IOU to be repaid within six months.
On Monday, Village Farms announced that it had fully repaid that debt, with accrued interest, putting the transaction to rest well ahead of schedule.
Image source: Getty Images.
In addition, Village Farms announced that it had increased its investment in Altum International, an Asian cannabinoid company, from around 6.6% to roughly 10%. This move will expand Village Farms' reach internationally, and it has the right to increase its stake in Altum further in the future. Helping to fund both of these deals was a $135 million equity sale it conducted in late January. Investors were clearly pleased with Monday's news.
Now what
Village Farms stock is up by more than 200% since it took control of Pure Sunfarms in November, partly because the move resolved a dispute that had been brewing between the now-former partners. That said, after this steep rise, it's possible that a material amount of anticipated good news has already been priced into the shares. That's something to keep in mind with the stock back in rally mode.
