Medicine Man's Andy Williams On M&A, Colombia: 'We Can Become A Dominant Supplier Of Cannabis To The World'

Denver-based cannabis consulting company Medicine Man Technologies Inc MDCL made three significant M&A moves in June to position the company in Colorado and beyond.

The company also announced that its co-founder Andy Williams, would serve as CEO after the death of Brett Roper in December.

Williams recently spoke with Benzinga about the significance of the company's moves and the next steps for Medicine Man.

Game-Changing Legislation

M&A activity was always in the cards, since filing its form S-1 when it stated that Medicine Man would one day acquire cannabis assets. This was made possible by the passage of Colorado House Bill 19-1090, which allowed public company ownership of cannabis licenses and out-of-state investments.

Medicine Man was active in getting the bill passed, Williams said — as well as past iterations that failed to become law.

“This is a moment in time that our company has been waiting for, and it's a transformative moment for us,” he said.

See Also: 'We Should All Aspire To Be More Like Brett': Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference Honors Late Medicine Man Founder

Medicine Man's Colombian Connection

The change in law led to the acquisition of two Colorado companies: Los Sueños, the largest sustainable marijuana cultivation site, and supercritical carbon dioxide extractor Purplebee's. The deals create significant cultivation potential going forward, Williams said.

“With Los Suenos, we've acquired the largest producer of cannabis in North America. It'll grow 75,000 pounds of marijuana this year if mother nature wills it.”

The company also went to Colombia to acquire 100% of Green Equity S.A.S.’s assets. The "strategic value of this [deal] is tremendous," Williams said.

Medicine Man is fully licensed in Colombia for cultivation, extraction, formulation, product development and research, he said.

"We can sell into the Colombian market, but we can also export from there.”

Medicine Man will work to secure such agreement: "As our demand increases over there and we start supplying more, we can expand our operations."

The CEO elaborated on the importance of doing business in Colombia.

"As more countries come online with their own cannabis laws that allow for [the] import of cannabis, we can become a dominant supplier of cannabis to the world."

Colombia has a low cost of production and the "ideal climate" for growing marijuana, he said.

Focus On Management

The Medicine Man CEO said he believes the company's leadership team will successfully shift the brand from a Colorado venture to a global cannabis operation.

"We've beefed up our management team in order to be able to very successfully handle all of these integrations, which is no easy task."

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