CBD company plans aromatherapy, cosmetics focus in new partnership

A Canadian supplements company that makes CBD extracts plans to focus on aromatherapy topicals through a collaboration with a prominent flavorings and scents firm.

Neptune Wellness Solutions of Laval, Quebec, which makes fish-oil supplements and cannabinoid oils, said Monday it is giving $24 million worth of stock warrants to International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) in a partnership for an upcoming line of CBD products sold under the Forest Remedies brand.

Based in New York, IFF makes flavors, fragrances and cosmetic actives.

IFF is a member of the S&P 500 and trades on the New York Stock Exchange as IFF.

Neptune said it plans to combine its hemp-extraction process with IFF’s intellectual property for essential oils for the new product line. Forest Remedies is expected to launch in the first half of 2020 with products in the cosmetics, personal care and home care markets.

Neptune issued IFF 2 million stock warrants at $12 each with a five-year expiration date.

The scent-company partnership is Neptune’s latest hemp investment. In May, the company bought Sugarleaf Labs of Conover, North Carolina, for total consideration of up to $150 million in a cash and stock deal.

Neptune, which on Monday reported revenues of $4.9 million for the previous fiscal quarter, trades as NEPT on the Nasdaq and Toronto Stock Exchange.