After going into a brief trading halt on Monday, New Zealand medical cannabis company Greenfern Industries emerged to announce it was going into receivership.
The brief statement said in part:
“Damien Grant and Adam Botterill of Waterstone Insolvency have been appointed as receivers and managers over Greenfern Industries Limited (NZX: GFI). This appointment has been made pursuant to the powers granted under a General Security Agreement between GFI and Emdex Limited, dated 20 December 2024.”
Waterstone is also handling the insolvency of another NZ cannabis firm – the company behind Medical Kiwi, which entered liquidation on February 4. Medical Kiwi was not NZX listed, but raised funds through sources including crowdfunding.
The GFI news came just a couple of days after Greenfern announced the resignations of Director Kirsten Taylor and CEO, Elizabeth Plant. Ms. Plant became CEO in late August last year after previous Managing Director Dan Casey left the firm to head overseas. Ms. Taylor had only been in role as Chairperson since December 2024.
Greenfern Industries stood out among its peers in that it has its own hydroelectric power station on the Waingongoro River in Taranaki. The power station is adjacent to GFI’s research and indoor growing operation and processing facility. It also provided a revenue stream, with the company selling surplus electricity generated.
In 2021, Greenfern Industries announced it had been named New Zealand’s first Toitū carbonzero certified medicinal cannabis and industrial hemp company; thanks largely to the plant. But reliability issues with aging hydropower equipment have been a problem for the firm.
According to a report on The Post, Waterstone feels it unlikely Greenfern would be sold as an ongoing concern; rather its assets sold off.
Australia and the Australian market remain were a key focus for the company, but it hit some significant hurdles here. These included an Australian company that manufactured GFI Pharma branded medicines entering into administration prior to Christmas 2023. Also, Greenfern’s Australian partnership with prescriber, doctor, and patient acquisition business Cannvalate wound down as that company changed its own focus.
The NZ medical cannabis space has been getting crowded and Waterstone’s Damien Grant opined that GFI struggled in a market that just wasn’t growing fast enough.
After a brief trading halt on Monday, NZ medical cannabis company Greenfern Industries emerged to announce it was going into receivership. Read More
