The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday edition that Breath of Life International, an Israeli medical pot company, has shelved its planned initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange until market conditions improve. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that Breath of Life had planned to raise $150-million through a public share offering priced at $27 to $32 a share. It had revenue of $3.5-million (U.S.) in 2018 and $1.1-million (U.S.) in the first quarter of 2019.
Chief executive officer Tamir Gedo said Monday: "We are sitting on the fence waiting for the market conditions to get better. When the market is ready to be bullish, we'll go ahead immediately."
Cannabis shares have been in a bear market since the spring, as disappointing earnings, regulatory issues and now a vaping-related health crisis have weighed on the industry's outlook. The BI Global Cannabis Competitive Peers index has lost more than half its value since its recent high on March 21.
The delayed IPO is a potential blow to Toronto Stock Exchange owner TMX Group. TMX president Loui Anastasopoulos said in May that Breath of Life "has the potential to be one of the largest life sciences IPOS that we've seen in a long time."
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