Black Legend Capital to Help Investors and Companies get the Highest Return on Investment as Countries Decriminalize Cannabis

Claudia Della Mora, founder and managing director of Black Legend Capital

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

The cannabis industry is red hot right now. It is constantly rising, and from projections, the industry’s growth will continue on an upward trajectory. Experts project the global legal cannabis market will reach $70.6 billion by 2025. 

The International Opium Convention of 1925 made the possession of cannabis illegal in many countries while the trade of cannabis is regulated by the 3 U.N. conventions on narcotic drugs including the Single Convention on Drugs in 1961. 

Fortunately, last December, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs transferred cannabis from a Schedule 4 to a Schedule 1 drug, which makes cannabis recognized as having medicinal value. With the realization that cannabis production is a growing multibillion-dollar industry, several countries are exploring cannabis business opportunities by legalizing and regulating cannabis products for medicinal and recreational use.

In the U.S., the legal cannabis market is projected to pull in $43 billion by 2025, and as lawmakers prepare to pass the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act of 2021 and push for federal-level legalization, the amount anticipated could be more.

On June 29, Mexico’s Supreme Court struck down laws that criminalized the recreational use of cannabis in a decisive 8-3 ruling after advocates pushed for decriminalization as a means to reduce drug-fueled cartel violence in the country.

The ruling also meant that Mexico would allow the cultivation and harvesting of marijuana plants after obtaining a permit from COFEPRIS, which is the Federal Committee for Protection from Sanitary Risks (Comisión Federal para la Protección contra Riesgos Sanitarios).

Apart from the U.S. and Mexico, several other countries have legalized medical use of cannabis like Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Zambia and Zimbabwe. 

Such a ruling and legalizations mean more investment opportunities for individuals and companies to transact and work with cannabis-related legitimate businesses. While the cannabis industry is attractive, most individuals and investors lack the courage and expertise to tap into the investment opportunities in the industry. This is where Black Legend Capital’s skill set comes in handy. 

About Black Legend Capital

Black Legend Capital’s name is synonymous with a string of successes. Whether in the area of client partnerships, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) adviser, financial modeling valuations and presentations, business development, fundraising or capital structuring, the company has a strong footprint that has made it a go-to partner for business ventures. 

Black Legend Capital (BLC) is an M&A boutique advisory based in California with offices in Houston, New York, London, Hong Kong and Melbourne. The company is a generalist — strong in oil and gas, mining and consumer products — and has been heavily focused on the cannabis industry for several years. 

BLC is also a valuation house, preparing all kinds of corporate investor packages and structuring capital raises. Black Legend Capital is among the most active advisers in the cannabis sector, with mandates from Aurora Cannabis Inc. ACB for acquisitions and other international conglomerates. 

Black Legend Capital has advised within all verticals of the cannabis industry — from retail to cultivation, extraction and manufacturing, brands and pharmaceuticals, technology and distribution — in several countries.

BLC is also very experienced in helping companies go private or public in Canada, the U.S. and other countries. It has represented cannabis companies in the U.S., Canada, South America, Australia and Europe.

During the last couple of years, Black Legend Capital has spent significant time working with the legal systems in different countries on international legalization while distributing CBD (cannabidiol) products from the U.S. to other countries. 

Claudia Della Mora

Black Legend Capital is managed by Claudia Della Mora, who is also a co-founder of the company. She comes into the cannabis space with a lot of experience and a passion for business growth. She is an investment banking professional with financial advisory and M&A experience — primarily in oil and gas, mining, gaming and lodging, consumer products, tech, and cannabis, with transactions ranging in size from $10 million to $6 billion. 

At Black Legend Capital, she has successfully invested, assisted in the capitalization, and worked as Interim CFO for small-cap oil companies in Kentucky, Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, Colorado, California, Wyoming, North Dakota and Alaska. She has also structured oil and gas partnerships in several U.S. states, Ecuador and Central America.

Della Mora has been involved in many liquid to natural gas (LNG) projects in the U.S. and many commodity trades worldwide. She has personally advised Chinese conglomerates in their U.S. oil and gas investments.

Before Black Legend Capital, Della Mora served as a partner at OFS Capital Group, a financial advisory firm and merchant bank based in Hong Kong, where she was responsible for fundraising and taking public in the U.S. market, coal and gold mines based in Indonesia and other parts of Asia.

Before that, she worked in the gaming and lodging group at BofA Securities, Inc. (previously Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) in Los Angeles), where she successfully advised and funded companies such as MGM, Dubai World and Wynn Resorts WYNN. Della Mora also worked as an investment banker in the consumer products group at Partnership Capital Growth Advisors in San Francisco and at Hadley Partners Inc. in Los Angeles, where she advised food companies and retailers.

Della Mora graduated with a B.A. in economics and a minor in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley.

Black Legend Capital’s Experience

Photo by David Gabrić on Unsplash

Della Mora explained in an exclusive interview with Benzinga that Black Legend Capital can help companies grow and expand in many geographic locations because of its extensive experience and network in several regions, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, China, Europe, North America and South America. 

“We are a one-stop-shop. We provide several services to companies, from valuation to structuring capital, and also business development in international locations.”

Investment Opportunities in Mexico

Della Mora’s current focus is on opportunities in Mexico following the current bill for the New Federal Law on the Regulation of Cannabis which will regulate recreational marijuana and industrial hemp.

“We’ve already started working with several parties over there,” she said. “So basically, I want to attract investors that want to join or companies that want to explore partnerships in Mexico” to take advantage of the licenses coming out now and manufacturing opportunities.

In Mexico, Black Legend Capital is exploring opportunities for investors to be partners in the next great ventures in cannabis. “I’m looking for new opportunities for investors and companies to have the highest return on investment in the shortest amount of time,” Della Mora said.

While opportunities may vary depending on the location, Mexico presents a lot of prospects because the country is well known for being a manufacturing hot-spot for many products. It’s also a vast country with a population of 130 million residents and 10 million regular cannabis users.

Apart from Mexico, BLC is also looking at different opportunities in different countries like Australia, where CBD and cannabinoids have been reclassified to make it possible to register medicinal level cannabis products with the government and sell them over-the-counter without a doctor prescription.

Brazil is another country Black Legend Capital is exploring for new opportunities for its clients, investors and companies to expand or invest in. Della Mora observed that although Brazil is a very conservative country, it has recognized the medicinal value of cannabis and has approved it for medicinal use, beginning to allow some nonprofit associations to cultivate it domestically.

“We have several clients there who are trying to get licenses. So, we are also partnering with entities in different parts of the world, but my main investment, my next venture investment will be Mexico.”

Expectations for the Cannabis Industry

Photo by Richard T on Unsplash

The cannabis industry encompasses many different sectors of the economy, including agriculture, real estate, retail and manufacturing, and will be an integral part of the overall economy.

She also predicted that cannabis would be a big player in the medical and healthcare industry. Considering the revival of industrial hemp and environmentally friendly trends currently being practiced, it’s likely to go toe-to-toe with the oil and gas and renewable energy industries. 

“This is an environmentally friendly and a sustainable business because industrial hemp can actually replace trees and plastic and also help agriculture,” Della Mora said. “Cannabis is going to be very important to the pharma healthcare space; it’s also going to be very important in the construction and environmental sustainability side.”

Della Mora said she hopes that the United Nations will channel energies toward the global decriminalization of cannabis by transferring it to a Schedule 2 or 3.

Read more about Black Legend Capital here.

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.