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Alcohol giant Constellation Brands Inc. is making a foray into marijuana, a precedent-setting move for an industry that has mostly stayed on the sidelines during the cannabis boom.

Constellation will pay about $245 million for a 9.9 per cent stake in Canopy Growth Corp., a Canadian seller of medicinal-marijuana products. The deal assigns a roughly $2.5 billion valuation to Canopy, which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker WEED.

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Shares in WEED spiked 23 per cent to a year high Monday morning.

The legalization of marijuana in Canada and a growing number of U.S. states is opening up a huge potential market — just as demand for alcohol is slowing. Still, pot remains prohibited at the U.S. federal level, meaning American companies have to tread carefully.

Constellation, based in Victor, New York, said it has no plans to sell cannabis in the U.S. or other markets until it’s legal “at all government levels.” For now, it’s more a matter of identifying markets with growth potential, said Chief Executive Officer Rob Sands, whose company sells Corona beer, Svedka vodka and other brands.