Sundial Growers Ltd., which is developing one of three marijuana production facilities in Olds, has announced a new strategic partnership with Plantbiosis Ltd.
Plantbiosis is an Alberta-based medicinal plant research and technology firm that was founded and led by Igor Kovalchuk, who has also joined Sundial’s management team.
“Having the opportunity to provide strategic input into a cannabis company is what scientists and researchers like myself get excited about,” said Kovalchuk in a press release.
Kovalchuk is an award-winning professor in the department of biological sciences at the University of Lethbridge and is an expert in plant biotechnology and genetic engineering, including plant transformations, tissue culture, next generation sequencing and bioinformatics and molecular biology.
“Sundial is thrilled to be working with Dr. Kovalchuk and his world-class team of researchers at Plantbiosis Ltd.,” said Sundial chief marketing and product officer Ryan Hellard.
Kovalchuk says partnerships such as this are important, as they will ensure that Canada remains at the forefront of cannabis research and innovation.
When asked how this partnership will impact the upcoming Olds facilities, Hellard explained that it will give a great insight into their cannabis strains, so they can create optimal growing conditions for the plants.
Sundial Growers Inc. also announced that it entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to supply as much as five million grams of cannabis per year to Delta 9 Cannabis Inc. based in Manitoba.
With this new agreement Sundial is now dipping its toes into the cannabis market in Manitoba.
“We are thrilled to be able to provide Manitoba residents with quality cannabis products through Delta 9,” said Sundial’s CCO, Andrew Stordeur in a press release. “Sundial applauds Delta 9 for building a strong partnership framework to ensure that Manitoba has a sufficient supply of cannabis.”
Sundial and Delta 9 both agree to share market data and strategies, as well as ensure that production and delivery are properly optimized to meet customer satisfaction.
Delta 9 chief executive officer John Arbuthnot expresses the company’s commitment to working with Sundial in order to meet supply projections to satisfy the needs of Manitobans.
“No one can definitively predict what will happen in the cannabis market in the first year after legalization, but early indicators suggest that demand will increase dramatically, and Delta 9 intends to be ready for that demand,” Arbuthnot said in a press release.
The clauses in the MOU are pending provincial regulatory structures and Health Canada approvals and regulations.
Sundial is required to supply cannabis that meets or exceeds the standards set by Health Canada.
Earlier, Sundial told a breakfast meeting in Olds it expected to create about 500 jobs in the town. That figure is not expected to increase as a result of this deal.
“To a degree they (job projections) will mostly say the same,” Hellard said. “When we were planning our facility in Olds we were planning arrangements like we have with Delta 9.”
Sundial has also entered a second MOU with the Alliance of Beverage Licensees (ABLE BC) to become a supplier of up to 20 million grams of cannabis and cannabis derivative products per year.
The product supplied by Sundial is meant for the adult market and this deal is considered an important milestone for the company as it enters the consumer market.
Initially, the supply of cannabis will be from the Alberta production facilities with the intention of shifting that production to a facility in Kamloops, B.C. once it is licensed and operational.
Though production will shift to Kamloops there is no job loss expected to happen in Alberta.
“The demand that we see in the adult-use market currently far exceeds what supplies we are able to provide and therefore, our initiative in Kamloops is in addition to anything we’ll be doing in Olds,” Hellard said.
Sundial is agreeing to provide ABLE BC’s more than 1,000 members with cannabis. ABLE BC describes its quality as consistent and reliable.
“ABLE BC is keen to partner with Sundial because of their collaborative approach to the retail market and their commitment to supplying consistent quality cannabis,” ABLE BC executive director Jeff Guignard said in a press release.
Similar to the deal with Delta 9, the two parties have agreed to share market data and strategy with the intent of ensuring production and delivery of the product is optimized to meet customer satisfaction.
The MOU is also pending approval from provincial regulatory structures and Health Canada approvals and regulations.
Meanwhile, construction of Phase 1 of Sundial's Olds facility is set to be complete between May and June. Expansions to that phase will be added on a continual basis every two to three months until mid 2019.
Hiring for the initial facility is expected to be underway in mid to late April.
