Hill Street Beverage set to acquire Sask.-based cannabis company OneLeaf for $16M

Saskatchewan-based OneLeaf Cannabis Corp. has been acquired by a beverage company looking to cash in on cannabis-infused drinks.

Hill Street Beverage is set to pay $16 million for OneLeafand its assets, including its 4,478 square-metrefacility near Regina.In addition tocultivating cannabis. theproduction plant in the RM of Sherwood and the City of Regina's Joint Planning Area will house Hill Street's bottling, canning and infusing lines.

The acquisition isn't quite a done deal.

OneLeafhas applied for astandard cultivation and processing licence from Health Canada. These wouldallow for the cultivation and sale of cannabis. Hill Street and OneLeaf expect the licence to be granted this summer. The deal with Hill Street is contingent on the licence.

Vancouver-based Hill Street produces alcohol-free beer and wine.

According to Hill Street CEO and chairman Terry Donnelly,OneLeaf employs seven people. Donnelly said all current employees will be hired following the acquisitionand that,to hit their production targets, the company will need to hire several more workers.

"We will likely need to hire a lot more people to work in that facility. It's not operational yet. Once it's operational we'll be hiring dozens of people," Donnelly said.

He estimatedthat Hill Street will need to hire 20 people to cultivate the cannabis, which OneLeaf does not currently do, and 30 to 45 people to work on the beverage side of the operation.

The location of OneLeafand its proximity to the Global Transportation Hub factored into the decision to acquire the business and facility.

"The accessibility and the ease with which you can transport and export products anywhere in the world from that transportation hub was a huge factor in our deciding to partner with the OneLeaf folks," said Donnelly.

The cannabis products Hill Street hopes to sell are not yet legal.

The date set by the federal government for legalizing edibles is Oct. 17, one year after recreational cannabiswas legalized nationwide.

Donnellysaid he hopes their products will be on shelves by February of 2020.