With the backing of a billionaire businesswoman and a new base in Denmark to drive European expansion, Little Green Pharma is in a good place. In the first of a two-part interview, MD Fleta Solomon tells Cannabiz of the rationale behind the Danish deal and how the support of Gina Rinehart has validated its growth strategy.
Building a business from scratch can be a financially perilous exercise. Funds can quickly run dry. Capital raising gets harder. Expansion can stall.
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So what’s the solution? How about enlisting the financial muscle of a multi-billionaire, the country’s richest person no less?
Little Green Pharma has done exactly that.
LGP, to be clear, has not struggled for cash. Capital raises have been well supported, and progress has been solid.
Indeed, in yesterday’s statement to the ASX, the company described the three months to June 30 as a “transformational quarter” in which, among other achievements, Australian patient numbers increased by 37% to 3,300 and 11,200 units were dispensed (up 25%).
And last month, Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting – whose West Perth head office is literally around the corner from LPG — invested another $15m in the company, representing the lion’s share of a $27.2m capital raise.
In doing do, the mining giant took a 10% stake in LGP, building significantly on the small shareholding it already had. Hancock now holds more than 11% of LGP through an entity called HSBC Custody Nominees.