SASKATOON, Saskatchewan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CanniMed Therapeutics Inc. (TSX: CMED) (“CanniMed” or the “Company”) today announced that Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”), a leading independent proxy voting advisory firm, has recommended that CanniMed shareholders vote “FOR” the acquisition of Newstrike Resources.

In reaching its recommendation that CanniMed shareholders vote “FOR” the acquisition of Newstrike Resources, ISS stated:

“ [CanniMed Shareholders should] vote FOR the proposed acquisition of Newstrike, which will allow the company to access the recreational cannabis market while also significantly expanding its production capacity and diversifying its geographic footprint. The transaction is expected to be accretive on a 2019 estimated EBITDA-per-share basis and may have a positive branding impact.”

ISS also recognized that with Aurora’s hostile bid, the offer has “ a $24 offer cap that has effectively halved the exchange ratio and CanniMed's expected ownership stake in the combined entity… turning the transaction into a dilutive one for CanniMed shareholders.”

Welcoming ISS’ favourable recommendation, Brent Zettl President and CEO, CanniMed, stated: “ We are pleased that ISS has recommended shareholders vote in favour of the Newstrike acquisition. We thank our shareholders for their ongoing support and unanimously recommend they follow the recommendations of ISS and the Board, by voting FOR the acquisition of Newstrike and saying NO to Aurora by not tendering and not voting on the blue proxy.”

Shareholders are reminded every vote counts regardless of how many shares they own and to vote their green proxies by January 19th, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. (Toronto time)

If you have any questions, please contact Kingsdale Advisors at 1-888-518-1554 toll-free in North America, or 416-867-2272 outside North America or by email at contactus@kingsdaleadvisors.com.

About CanniMed Therapeutics Inc.

CanniMed is a Canadian-based, international plant biopharmaceutical company and a leader in the Canadian medical cannabis industry, with 17 years of pharmaceutical cannabis cultivation experience, state-of-the-art, GMP-compliant production process and world class research and development platforms with a wide range of pharmaceutical-grade cannabis products. In addition, the Company has an active plant biotechnology research and product development program focused on the production of plant-based materials for pharmaceutical, agricultural and environmental applications.

CanniMed, through its subsidiaries, was the first producer to be licensed under the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations, the predecessor to the current Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations. It was the sole supplier to Health Canada under the former medical cannabis system for 13 years, and has been producing safe and consistent medical cannabis for thousands of Canadian patients, with no incident of product diversion or recalls.

For more information, please visit our websites: www.cannimed.ca (patients) and www.cannimedtherapeutics.com (investors).

About Institutional Shareholder Services

Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) is the world’s leading provider of corporate governance and responsible investment (RI) solutions for asset owners, asset managers, hedge funds, and asset service providers. ISS’ solutions include: objective governance research and recommendations; RI data, analytics, and research; end-to-end proxy voting and distribution solutions; turnkey securities class-action claims management; and reliable global governance data and modeling tools. Institutional clients turn to ISS to apply their corporate governance views, identify environmental, social and governance risk, and manage their complete proxy voting needs on a global basis. ISS analysts have unique expertise and insight on the governance and RI landscape, local market voting practices and regulatory requirements, along with expertise in varied fields such as law, M&A, compensation, and analytics.