Andrew Forrest invests in medicinal cannabis play Emyria

Forrest’s cannabis investment comes just months after fellow iron ore billionaire Gina Rinehart entered the sector.

Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forest has joined fellow billionaire Gina Rinehart in investing in medicinal cannabis.

Andrew Forrest has made his first foray into medicinal cannabis and psychedelic drugs, with his investment company Tattarang pumping $5m into ASX-listed Emyria.

The investment comes just months after another iron ore billionaire, Gina Rinehart, spent $15m on a 10 per cent stake in medicinal cannabis company Little Green Pharma.

In a statement, Tattarang chief investment officer John Hartman said he believed Emyria would help bring new treatments to potentially millions of patients.

“We believe evidence based, and properly registered, medicinal cannabis and novel psychedelic treatments have massive growth potential across global healthcare jurisdictions,” Mr Hartman said.

A host of medicinal cannabis companies have joined the ASX in recent years. Emyria describes itself as the only one of those “that controls patient-treating clinics and a clinical-trial-grade data system”.

Emyria managing director Michael Winlo told The Australian that the recent investments by Dr Forrest and Mrs Rinehart showed that major investors were increasingly drawn to the potential of the sector.

“These big investors can see where the future is going, they know the future is properly registered drug treatments,” he said.

“I think they can also see massive potential for psychedelic assisted therapies.”

Unlike many other ASX-listed cannabis companies, Emyria is focused not on the growing of the plants themselves but on research into the most effective applications of cannabinoids and the development of registered drugs.

Emyria has already set up seven research clinics across the country and has treated more than 5,000 patients using a variety of cannabinoid treatments.

“Canada destroyed 1 million kilograms of dry flower last year because of oversupply,” Dr Winlo said.

“We don’t really need much more, what we need is good evidence of where these treatments work best and we need to make these dosage forms pure.”

“We are very pleased to welcome Tattarang to be part of this next phase of growth.”

Tattarang’s investment will give it a 7.3 per cent stake in Emyria. It has bought the stake at 25c a share, a discount to the company’s last traded price of 33c a share, and Tattarang will also be issued 10 million options exercisable at 40c each.

Tattarang has been on a buying spree in recent years as it puts to work some of the billions Dr Forrest has received from his 33 per cent stake in iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group.

Recent purchases include bootmaker RM Williams and Olivia Newton-John’s Gaia Retreat in Byron Bay. It was also involved in recent takeover tussles for Canadian nickel developer Noront Resources and Tasmanian salmon farmer Huon Aquaculture.