Article content

The fate of the first major hostile takeover attempt in Canada’s burgeoning cannabis sector could be decided over the next week when shareholders at a pair of companies vote on a merger of their own.

On Wednesday, Ontario’s Newstrike Resources Ltd., the recreational cannabis company backed by the Tragically Hip, will vote on whether to merge with Saskatchewan’s medical marijuana-focused CanniMed Ltd. Shareholders of CanniMed will vote on the same deal the following Tuesday.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Shareholder votes on CanniMed merger could decide fate of hostile bid by Aurora Back to video

CanniMed has been locked in an increasingly fractious battle with larger rival Aurora Cannabis Inc., which is trying to take over CanniMed in a deal that is contingent on the Newstrike merger being rejected.

Both Newstrike CEO Jay Wilgar and CanniMed CEO Brent Zettl are urging shareholder support for the merger plan, which they say has been in the works since October.

The main stumbling block, however, in Wednesday’s vote could be Newstrike’s share price, which shot up from $0.64 on Jan. 2 to $2.95 on Jan. 9, before dropping back down to $1.34 by Tuesday.