Tilray-Aphria deal closes, company to control biggest share of Cdn pot market

By: The Canadian Press Posted: Last Modified:

Advertisement

Advertise with us

NANAIMO, B.C. - Tilray Inc. and Aphria Inc. say their merger deal has now closed after receiving approval from shareholders of both companies.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/05/2021 (1988 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NANAIMO, B.C. – Tilray Inc. and Aphria Inc. say their merger deal has now closed after receiving approval from shareholders of both companies.

Tilray shareholders voted Friday in favour of issuing stock to Aphria’s shareholders, but the Nanaimo, B.C.-based company has yet to reveal how many supported the proposal.

About 99 per cent of Aphria shareholders voted in favour of the deal in April.

Brendan Kennedy, CEO and founder of British Columbia-based Tilray Inc., poses next to his company's logo at Nasdaq where the company's IPO (TLRY) opened, Thursday, July 19, 2018, in New York. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Bebeto Matthews
Brendan Kennedy, CEO and founder of British Columbia-based Tilray Inc., poses next to his company's logo at Nasdaq where the company's IPO (TLRY) opened, Thursday, July 19, 2018, in New York. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Bebeto Matthews

The two cannabis companies announced in December that they will merge under the Tilray name with Aphria CEO Irwin Simon at the helm and Tilray CEO Brendan Kennedy joining the board.

The new company is expected to have a pro forma revenue of $874 million and will control more than 17 per cent of the retail cannabis market — the largest share held by any Canadian licensed producer.

While Tilray shareholders at Friday’s meeting supported the Aphria deal, they voted against increasing the company’s authorized capital stock from more than 743 million shares to 900 million shares.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 30, 2021.

Companies in this story: (TSX:APHA)

Advertisement Advertise With Us

Report Error Submit a Tip

Advertisement

Learn more about Winnipeg Free Press Advertising solutions

More Stories

Final hurdles are moving on in your mind and life

Maureen Scurfield 3 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I just ran into my former husband with his new woman. It was a shock. She looked nothing like me — not nearly as good. In fact, she’s the opposite of me — red-haired, freckled, tall and skinny like a rake. I’m short, dark, with golden skin from my Italian background. That was what my husband used to say he loved in a woman.

Does that mean he lied — that he really didn’t like my looks and secretly longed for the opposite? That seems crazy to me. But I should mention that in our last miserable years together he didn’t even want to hold me in his arms and look at me. He sometimes slept at his office (or so he said) because he was “too tired to drive home.”

He could have been elsewhere — like in some other woman’s home — because he always used his cellphone to call me, not his office line.

How can I forget about the man I loved so much and finally move on?

DARRYL DYCK /THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Chickens at a poultry farm in Abbotsford, B.C. Canadian per capita consumption of chicken has increased to one kilogram per person.

Protein crests current appetite wave

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Preview

Protein crests current appetite wave

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT

Holiday feasts often reflect the latest fads and trends influencing how we eat.

This Thanksgiving’s table is likely to feature more Canadian content than it might otherwise as a point of national pride.

In the recent past, the carb-free craze has made cauliflower a substitute for the mashed potatoes on some family spreads. Some have gone meatless, while others have added more. Still others offer gluten-free, dairy-free or fat-free alternatives.

Nowadays, it seems consumers can’t get enough protein. Desmond Sobool, deputy chief economist Farm Credit Canada, told a recent economic update for the agri-food sector there are two converging influences in play.

Read
Yesterday at 2:01 AM CDT
Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros (8) throws against the Calgary Stampeders during second half CFL football action in Winnipeg on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

Collaros turns back the clock in crucial win over Stamps

Taylor Allen 7 minute read Preview

Collaros turns back the clock in crucial win over Stamps

Taylor Allen 7 minute read 7:14 PM CDT

It was around this time seven years ago that the Winnipeg Blue Bombers officially became Zach Collaros’s team.

Making his first start in blue and gold after being acquired via trade, Collaros ran backwards to escape a collapsing pocket before rolling to his right and firing a perfect pass to Darvin Adams in the back corner of the south end zone during a home game against the Calgary Stampeders.

The play marked the beginning of the Collaros era in Winnipeg.

And a similar play Saturday night, once again against the Stampeders, served as a reminder that the 38-year-old pivot isn’t done just yet.

Read
7:14 PM CDT
Kevin Klein at campaign HQ going over the plan for a 10:30 AM press conference.

A Rocky day on the mayoral campaign trail for Kevin Klein

Malak Abas 12 minute read Preview

A Rocky day on the mayoral campaign trail for Kevin Klein

Malak Abas 12 minute read Friday, Oct. 9, 2026

Kevin Klein acknowledges it’s hard to foresee what he’ll wake up to each morning in the final weeks of a mayoral campaign.

But the seasoned politician, who has served as both a city councillor and a provincial cabinet minister, couldn’t have predicted the events — what he describes as “drama” — that unfolded last Sunday.

Fellow mayoral candidate Mike Vogiatzakis accused Klein’s campaign team of offering him a job to drop out of the race, while a guest writer’s column in the Winnipeg Sun that questioned the deaths of Indigenous children at residential schools, just days after the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, sparked condemnation from a prominent Indigenous organization. (Klein is the CEO of the Klein Group, the company that owns the Sun. He has maintained he is not involved in its operations while running for mayor.)

The Free Press had already been scheduled to join Klein on the campaign trail Monday, intending to document a day in the life of the front-running candidate to unseat incumbent Scott Gillingham, before the controversies hit.

Read
Friday, Oct. 9, 2026
John Woods / THE CANADIAN PRESS Winnipeg Jets netminder Stuart Skinner (left) and his backup Clay Stevenson have given the franchise extra patience in finding a new home for Connor Hellebuyck with their impressive 3-0-1 combined start to the season.

Stuart-Stevenson tandem gives Jets time for best Hellebuyck trade deal

Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe 8 minute read Preview

Stuart-Stevenson tandem gives Jets time for best Hellebuyck trade deal

Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe 8 minute read Friday, Oct. 9, 2026

A weekly lap around the NHL by Free Press hockey writers Ken Wiebe and Mike McIntyre

The New York Islanders are first-overall. The Calgary Flames are in the league basement.

We’re talking about goaltending, specifically the metric of “goals against above expected” as tracked by the Money Puck website which factors in shot quality and location and is a much better measure than traditional numbers such as goals-against-average and even save percentage, which can be heavily influenced by team factors.

In a nutshell, you want to be as high as possible on this list, suggesting your masked men are doing their job by stopping everything they should — and hopefully a few more. The lower you are in the 32-team league, the more likely you have a leaky crease.

Read
Friday, Oct. 9, 2026
KELLY-ANNE RIESS / FREE PRESS Now you see it, now you don’t. Winnipeg escape artist Dean Gunnarson stands where a historic plaque commemorating the founding of the International Brotherhood of Magicians once hung before mysteriously disappearing earlier this week.

Piece of Winnipeg’s magic history disappears

Kelly-Anne Riess 5 minute read Preview

Piece of Winnipeg’s magic history disappears

Kelly-Anne Riess 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 9:38 PM CDT

A piece of Winnipeg’s magic history has vanished, and internationally renowned escape artist Dean Gunnarson is offering a $500 reward to anyone who can make it reappear.

The plaque marked the birthplace of what has become the world’s largest organization of professional and amateur magicians, the International Brotherhood of Magicians, which was founded in Winnipeg more than a century ago.

Gunnarson said fellow magician and local magic historian Bruce Thompson discovered the disappearance Tuesday while on his way to work.

Thompson returned to inspect the site and found what appeared to be evidence it had been forcibly removed.

Read
Updated: Yesterday at 9:38 PM CDT