The Johannesburg Stock Exchange looked a little greener last week, literally, with the first listing of a medical cannabis company on its alternative exchange, Alt X.

‘This was the first time in the JSE’s 137-year existence that it had a foyer full of cannabis plants – definitely a historic moment for us as a company and us as a country,’ Gabriel Theron, CEO of medical cannabis investment company Cilo Cybin, told Moneyweb.

Listed as a Special Purpose Acquisition vehicle (SPAC), the company offered 71 million ordinary shares at an opening price of ZAR1.00 on 25 June. The shares were trading at ZAR6.00 by mid-afternoon.

According to Reuters, Theron hopes the funds raised from the listing will help the company ‘tap into the growing global investor appetite for alternative medicines’. Its first target acquisition is Cilo Cybin Pharmaceutical in Midrand.

Following that, the company aims to transition to the JSE Main Board. But it is aiming higher than that, with plans to list on the Nasdaq in the next three years.

2 July 2024
Image: Cilo Cybin