Canadian CANNAINVESTOR Magazine Canadian Publicly Traded April / May 2019 | Page 63

We think our team’s focus on the medicine and science of cannabis helps us perform well in these application processes, and while we can’t comment on plans in our pipeline right now, I’d point out that many of the states that have yet to enact any sort of cannabis legislation are conservative states which we believe are likely to pursue more regulated models where our scientific and medical expertise should be appealing. So, we feel confident in our ability to continue driving organic growth over the long-term.

And you’ve obviously been active with some M&A activity since your RTO, but how do you feel about your deal pipeline today?

As you’ve noted, our RTO enabled us to become more active from an M&A standpoint, and we’ve recently completed the acquisitions of several new entities in attractive jurisdictions. We believe we’ve secured these acquisitions at extremely favorable valuations because the sellers were interested in aligning themselves with Vireo’s future, and we’re pleased we were able to complete these transactions predominantly by using our shares as currency which enabled us to conserve cash. I can’t comment on future plans or acquisition targets at this point, but obtaining a public currency was an important factor driving our decision to execute our RTO, and we’re going to continue pursuing acquisitive growth opportunities that we believe will help us deliver strong returns to our shareholders.

As per your most recent corporate presentation, your strategy is based on three principles: Opportunistic Growth; Best-in-Class Customer Experience; and Real Intellectual Property. Briefly, what is meant by each of these and how (or why) is Vireo positioned to be an industry leader in each?

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