Psychedelics Co. Champignon Announces New CEO, $10M In Funding And M&A Deal

Psychedelic-focused health company Champignon Brands SHRM SHRMF recently made a string of announcements.

The company confirmed Dr. Roger McIntyre as its new CEO, a private placement raise of $10 million and the acquisition of a California-based ketamine treatment centre which marks the company’s expansion into the U.S.

Dr. Roger McIntyre: Champignon’s New CEO

McIntyre is a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at the University of Toronto and head of the Mood Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit at Toronto’s University Health Network. He’s also executive director of the Brain and Cognition Discovery Foundation in Toronto and director for the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance in Chicago, Illinois.

McIntyre told Benzinga his experience as head of an influential scientific research center in mood disorders, along with personal contact with mood disorder patients for over 20 years, provided him with the “clarion call” to achieve the goals that Champignon aspires for patients and investors.

"It’s a privileged opportunity to be named as Chief Executive Officer of Champignon Brands," McIntyre said. "Champignon aims to be the apotheosis of integrated treatment delivery for ketamine and the commercialization of our own IP psychedelic-based treatments."

Under his command, the company aims to achieve the goal of becoming the world’s largest provider of ketamine and related treatments while developing psychedelic-based treatments for adults with depression, post-traumatic stress, and substance use disorder. 

$10 Million Private Placement

On Monday, Champignon announced the closing of a private placement deal with Canaccord Genuity Corp. and Eight Capital. Under the agreement, Canaccord and Eight Capital agreed to purchase 11,765,000 units of the company at a price of $0.85 per unit amounting to about $10 million.

Each unit consists of one common share of the company and one half of a common share purchase warrant to acquire shares at a price of $1.15 for a period of 24 months.

The deal is expected to be closed by June 11, 2020.

Intention To Acquire Wellness Clinic Of Orange County

On Tuesday, Champignon announced the execution of a term sheet portraying the company’s intention to purchase Wellness Clinic of Orange County Inc., a California-based ketamine infusion treatment center located within the Mission Hospital’s Laguna Beach campus.

While the term sheet is non-binding, it expresses both parties’ mutual intention for executing a definitive acquisition agreement.

If concluded, the acquisition would establish Champignon’s operations in U.S. soil.

“We are thrilled to begin executing on our North American expansion strategy by acquiring our first U.S. based, revenue generating ketamine centre,” said McIntyre.

The CEO said his company aims to establish a significant scale and a sizable footprint of integrated ketamine clinics working on providing therapeutic options for patients suffering from chronic disease that have failed conventional treatments.

Dr. Michael Bronson of Wellness Clinic of Orange County called this “an exceptional opportunity to both collaborate and scale with Dr. McIntyre and the world-class team at Champignon.”  

Under the term sheet, Champignon is to acquire 100% of the Wellness Clinic and all subsidiary companies exchange for payments over an 18-month period, consisting of $600,000, 1 million common shares of Champignon and, 500,000 common shares of Champignon payable only if the Wellness Clinic collects top-line revenue of at least $1,500,000, over 18 months.

Lead image by Ilona Szentivanyi. Copyright: Benzinga.