Aurora continues slowdown with plans to sell Ontario facility
By COLLIN GALLANT on January 7, 2020.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com
Aurora Cannabis continues to prune its aggressive plan to build up capacity over the last several years.
On Monday, Bloomberg reported that the Edmonton-based company that has a major project in Medicine Hat had listed to sell a 1-million square-foot greenhouse in Ontario that it acquired when it took over a competitor last year.
The news comes after the company announced a new strategic plan to slow some construction projects as demand in the emerging industry, as well as company revenue picture, becomes more clear.
The company told Bloomberg financial reporters that the facility required significant retrofitting and commissioning costs.
“Aurora has taken decisive steps to rationalize capital expenditures and align our cultivation footprint to current demand, including selling the Exeter facility,” Aurora vice-president Michelle Lefler reportedly told Bloomberg of the facility located near London, Ont.
Former owner MedReleaf estimated the former vegetable facility could produce 105,000 kilograms of dried cannabis leaf per year once it was refitted and certified by Health Canada.
The eventual capacity at the highly automated Medicine Hat facility, about 1.6 million square feet, is stated to be 260,000 kilograms.
In December, Aurora announced that six growing rooms, comprising about 15 per cent of the facility, could be commissioned by mid-2020. At the same time, Aurora slowed construction of a facility in Denmark.
The company has also said more growing rooms would be brought online as demand warranted.
Upgrades in Exeter has been listed in 2018 company financial reports as an item on the capital projects list, but without a timeline or cost estimate.
The list price on the facility is $17 million.
MedReleaf paid $26 million for the Exeter facility and 66 hectares of adjoining land in 2018. That same year, Aurora launched a $2.3-billion bid to acquire MedReleaf, a medicinal producer with consumer recreational aspirations. It was considered an emerging heavyweight in the sector as general legalization in Canada approached.
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