By Nichola Saminather
TORONTO, March 1 (Reuters) - Canadian marijuana producer Canopy Growth Corp WEED.TO will list on the U.S.'s Nasdaq exchange "in due course," Chief Exective Officer Bruce Linton said on Thursday.
Canopy had initially prepared to list on the Nasdaq inOctober, Linton said in a speech at the Economic Club of Canada.But the company shelved its plans after liquor producerConstellation Brands STZ.N bought a 10 percent stake inCanopy, according to a video of the speech posted on the club's website. Nasdaq listing would put Canopy in the company of fellowCanadian marijuana company Cronos Group CRON.O MJN.V , which on Tuesday became the first pot company to trade on Wall Street. is up 26 percent since its closing price on Monday, compared with a 2.9 percent decline in the Nasdaq CompositeIndex .IXIC .
The pursuit of U.S. listings by Canadian pot producers isgrowing evidence of investor demand for access to a sector thathas seen monumental growth over the past several months. TheETFMG Alternative Harvest exchange traded fund went fromessentially zero to $400 million in net assets within a month,Vahan Ajamian, research analyst at Beacon Securities, said in anote on Monday.
"When Constellation put money into our business, the numberof U.S. institutional investors interested in us went way up,"Linton said. "The Nasdaq is doing a great job not allowingpeople to list who break federal laws and that's a place wherewe should list in due course."
Canopy shares jumped 9.5 percent to close at a C$29.96 onThursday, its highest level since Feb. 20.
Linton did not specify a time frame for a Nasdaq listing,but Ajamian estimated it could occur in the second quarter of2018 in a note on Thursday.