The company that bought the old Kraft building had big plans at first. They wanted to be the biggest grower of Marijuana plants in Canada and they floated their shares under the ticker HUGE. But in July 2020, they announced that they would be giving up on that idea and selling their Cobourg facility with an asking price of $19M. They moved out and are now based in Toronto. Work is now focused on developing medications and when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, they aimed at using Cannabis compounds for its treatment. Their latest announcement is that they have a licence agreement with an Italian company to “develop U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approved veterinary drugs for the treatment of gastro-intestinal diseases in Canine and Feline (Dogs and Cats).” Meanwhile they have lost millions (over $30M in 2020) and raised more money by selling more shares.
Their most recent statement of intent (26 January 2021) says that they will continue to research products to treat Covid-19 although “the Company may not be in a position to complete the Study prior to the end of 2021.” And “In addition, the Company is actively seeking appropriate potential buyers and is hopeful to finalize the sale of its non-core real estate asset in Cobourg, Ontario. The Company and its counterparty agreed to terminate the previously announced conditional sales contract for this real estate asset.” They also announced that their president (Mr. Zeeshan Saeed) had been fired for cause (details not provided).
The original broker for the property found a buyer who proceeded to do “due diligence”. The name of the potential buyer was never announced. However, that sale was not completed and the property is now back on the market with a different broker (Cushman Wakefield). The asking price is a large part of the company’s balance sheet (it was $42M at the end of 2020) so its sale at a good price is important to them.
Meanwhile, the Cobourg’s Heritage community and the Town were concerned about the fate of the Certo building at the rear of the property. In 2018 FSD Pharma said that they planned to use it as an on-site Cannabis dispensary. It was in danger of collapse and FSD Pharma promised to fix it. In December 2020, Historic Carpentry and Historic Brick company were working on the roof and masonry.
They obviously now have no plans to “dispense Cannabis” so restoration must be being done to meet obligations and to make the property more “sellable”.
Links
External Links
- Current listing of Cobourg property
- FSD Pharma Corporate Update – 26 January 2021
- Balance Sheet per Yahoo Finance
- Northumberland News re Certo building restoration – 8 December 2020
Previous Posts on Cobourg news Blog
A selection
- Work to start on restoring Certo Building – 24 Feb 2020 – includes photos showing state of building.
- FSD Pharma scales down Cannabis Cultivation – 8 June 2020
- Is Cannabis Factory leaving Town? – 20 April 2020
- Cannabis Facility Update – 7 February 2019
- FSD Pharma announces Restoration of Cert Building – 10 October 2018
Print Article:
The actual value of the former Kraft plant will have to be what a new buyer is willing to pay. As with other major developments in our Town, rarely does the new buyer surface locally. Our people know the history too well…..The public cannabis company has been putting various values on the property and recently were challenged by shareholders in Superior Court on some of their past representations. Local investors if there are any willing to admit to that–might still be able to make a claim in that regard: See link below: You’re welcome.
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https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210213005001/en/Morganti-Co-P.C.-Announces-Settlement-Approval-for-FSD-Pharma-Inc.-Securities-Class-Action
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I have no idea what the company originally paid; what us taxpayers contributed or if any Property taxes remain outstanding–but those should all be fair questions at this point. If the Kraft plant is worth $40mm++ what is Brookside worth? $100mm++?….what about Sidmore?….what about Golden Plough Lodge?…a Billion?
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It’s interesting to note that when the owner of our Mall went insolvent and one of Canada’s largest real estate co’s Timbercreek was forced to put this underperforming asset on their balance sheet, they needed to provide vendor take-back financing(one analyst reported more than 120%) in order to encourage somebody to buy that ‘asset’. It is a sad reflection on our Town that it was the $7.5B company’s ONLY underperforming piece of real estate in a portfolio of hundreds of properties. The lesson here might be that, it’s not easy to find buyers–or financing- even in times of a relative real estate ‘boom’. Another lesson might be that any commercial vacancy associated with the name ‘Cobourg’ might also be problematic.(?) If Cushman-Wakefield finds somebody to pay $40++mm for the Kraft plant, lets get them to put their sign in front of Brookside and a few other vacant gems we have on the tax rolls. Mr Cushman or Ms. Wakefield will also get my vote for Mayor & MPP…
I wish there was less Censoring and more Fact Checking published
Real Investigative Reporting must be a thing of the past
We should be holding Certain parties Accountable
This was a costly mistake to all of Northumberland and its constituents that invested
and relied on our elected officials to run proper background checks .
Instead they take photo opportunities & used propaganda to further their own interests and political careers .
“This was a costly mistake to all of Northumberland and its constituents”
What did it cost all of Northumberland? What did all of Northumberland spend on what parts of the scheme? Give us some facts so that we can check them.
Sandpiper provide facts? Not a chance just useless gossip and conspiracy theories.
A tale…full of sound and fury…
The County supplied start up Town was utility incentive and what ever else we don’t know about. like employment incentives .
Residents fallowed the Propaganda and invested not everyone but there were a lot one fellow I know lost approx. $200 k on average though many invested
$5 to $10 k on what the thought was to be BIG Business coming to Cobourg
“The County supplied start up Town was utility incentive and what ever else we don’t know about.”
“…one fellow I know lost approx. $200 k…”
Neither the town nor the county is responsible for an individual’s losses resulting from speculation in the stock market.
Local governments have no role to play in an individual’s investment decisions.
I guess you didn’t invest many did ask around
“constituents that invested and relied on our elected officials to run proper background checks .“
I have no sympathy for those investment losers. If they “relied on our elected officials“, then they deserved to lose. The individual investors were motivated with greed, get some KKKKs, but, caveat emptor. Other individual investors did their due diligence and avoided the pot party, preferring something more secure and lucrative. Wise investment.
What did we miss?
The greenhouse gas emissions of indoor cannabis production in the United States | Nature Sustainability
“They wanted to be the biggest grower of Marijuana plants in Canada…”
My recollection is that they intended to become the biggest indoor hydroponic operation in Canada. That would allow many other companies to be bigger – potentially much bigger – so long as they weren’t both indoors and hydroponic.
The whole thing was a joke and a scam from day one. The Music Man comes to mind.
How about a “thumbs down” from all those who believed this bovine scat. 🙂
Does this mean that there’s no monorail coming either?
Restoring the Rochester cruise is off the table for a while too.
Nice picture. I remember as a young boy, with my parents,travelled to Rochester on the ferry at least twice. Not sure how successfull a restoration would be at this point.
yes our Mayors do a great song and dance
👎 That you Wally?
Seems to me this place has gone to the dogs.