Canadian nutritional-supplements firm to buy North Carolina hemp extractor

A Quebec, Canada-based supplements company has agreed to acquire a North Carolina hemp extractor, marking yet another move by a Canadian cannabis firm into the U.S. hemp industry.

Neptune Wellness Solutions, a company that makes fish-oil supplements and cannabinoid oils, will buy Sugarleaf Labs of Conover, North Carolina, for total consideration of up to $34 million in a cash and stock deal.

Here’s how the deal breaks down:

• Neptune will pay $12 million in cash.
• Neptune will pay Sugarleaf an additional $6 million in Neptune shares.
• Neptune could pay an additional $16 million in cash and stock if Sugarleaf meets certain performance goals by 2022.

The deal is Neptune’s first foray into the U.S. market.

“Now is the time to establish a state-of-the-art supply chain in the U.S. marketplace,” Neptune CEO Jim Hamilton said in a statement announcing the deal.

Neptune trades as NEPT on the Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange.