{"id":6921,"date":"2024-03-14T17:58:22","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T20:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=6921"},"modified":"2024-03-15T09:23:40","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T12:23:40","slug":"aqualitas-lights-up-deal-to-merge-with-british-firm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/03\/14\/aqualitas-lights-up-deal-to-merge-with-british-firm\/","title":{"rendered":"Aqualitas lights up deal to merge with British firm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Myrna Gillis, CEO of Aqualitas. The cannabis producer, based in Brooklyn, has been sold to a British firm. (Aqualitas photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

Queens County cannabis producer Aqualitas has been sold to a British company.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Brooklyn-based firm has been bought by the London-based Cannaray Limited. Aqualitas will become part of Cannaray’s medical cannabis division, Therismos, which operates in Germany and the UK.<\/span><\/p>\n

Co-founder and CEO Myrna Gillis said Thursday the deal started being hashed out three years ago. She said jobs are safe at the plant in Brooklyn.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great thing for the plant here in Brooklyn,” she said in an interview.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We have expansion plans that had been on the books for a while, because we effectively had more demand than we had supply or capacity to meet. And we have funds that are earmarked now under this agreement for expansion, so we\u2019re going to have expansion in the Liverpool facility. It enhances our position in relation to jobs and we don\u2019t have any expectation of any layoffs. We expect to be in a position of expansion and growth because of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Gillis would not disclose the value of the deal. But she said the two companies combined for sales last year of $75 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gillis was a lawyer in Bedford when she co-founded Aqualitas in 2014. The company set up its grow-op shop in the Port Mersey Commercial Park, at the site of the former Bowater Mersey pulp and paper mill in Brooklyn in 2017. It employs between 75 and 85 people.<\/span><\/p>\n

It quickly became recognized around the world for its environmentally friendly aquaponic growing system that uses the nutrient-dense waste of more than 3,000 koi carp fish as fertilizer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Its products can be found around the world, in the U.S., Australia, Israel, Germany, Portugal and Poland.<\/span><\/p>\n

The privately held company is certified organic and has won numerous awards and certifications since it was founded. It has also been on the forefront of research into PTSD, insomnia and pain.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look back at that and I think of everything that we\u2019ve accomplished, it\u2019s an incredible story,” Gillis says. “So I\u2019m really proud of what we\u2019ve done, I\u2019m really proud of what I was able to contribute to the team.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Gillis said the time was right for the marijuana merger. Prices domestically have been going down, while export markets are still paying top dollar for their product. And Germany is set to legalize marijuana on April 1, opening up the international market even more.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we got into this industry we were licence No. 87. Now there are more than 950 licences with Health Canada. We had too many companies, too much supply in the domestic market, too many people doing the exact same thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI always had the vision that I wanted to do an exit with a global company because you need to be globally competitive to guarantee your growth and access to markets.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Gillis will continue as chairwoman of Aqualitas and she will be a member of Cannaray’s board.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chief operating officer Josh Adler will take over the daily operation of Aqualitas and the current management team will stay in place, Gillis says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is good for the community, it\u2019s good for Aqualitas and it\u2019s good for the industry.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As for Gillis herself, she says she will still be busy with the company she founded with friends almost 10 years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have a third act, I\u2019m sure. But right now, there\u2019s a lot happening here during my tenure. But there\u2019s a third act for sure.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/aqualitasdealmar1424.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Queens County cannabis producer Aqualitas has been sold to a British company. The Brooklyn-based firm has been bought by the London-based Cannaray Limited. Aqualitas will become part of Cannaray’s medical cannabis division, Therismos, which operates in Germany and the UK. Co-founder and CEO Myrna Gillis said Thursday the deal started being hashed out three years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[142,1889,1897,48,1608,144,1896,1890,1621,39,1891,1895,1892,1899,1898,49,1893,1894],"class_list":["post-6921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-aqualitas","tag-aqualitas-inc","tag-bowater-mersey","tag-brooklyn","tag-business","tag-cannabis","tag-cannabis-producer","tag-cannaray-limited","tag-germany","tag-liverpool","tag-london","tag-manufacturing","tag-medical-marijuana","tag-merger","tag-port-mersey-commercial-park","tag-queens-county","tag-therismos","tag-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6921"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6937,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6921\/revisions\/6937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}