Medicinal cannabis in Germany - Business Report

154 Confidential __________________________________________________________________________________ This goal is often achieved through acquisitions rather than through mergers or cooperation mod- els. An independent in-house extension of the value chain would be too complicated and particularly slow for this rapidly expanding market. The underlying business models in the Cannabis market vary between the attributes "highly repu- table" to "predominantly speculative". The market participants in this growth market are also very heterogeneous, as are the products represented in the market. On the one hand, multinational corpo- rations, today still mainly from Canada and Israel, are involved, offering vertical integration from pro- duction to marketing. On the other hand, we see many suppliers who specialise in only one building block in the value chain of Cannabis marketing, such as producers, importers, marketing and distribu- tion companies or service providers for the Cannabis market. Some have the intention to become sustainable players in this market. Many, however, hope for a quick takeover at an attractive price. Mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic cooperations and participations currently determine what happens in the Cannabis market. The Canadian Cannabis company Tilray is a good example of a vertically integrated Cannabis com- pany. Tilray controls all value chain sections from production to the point of care with its own clinics and treatment centres. Tilray is also represented internationally with its own branches on almost all continents. In order to influence Tilray's policies, an international advisory board with top-class former and influential politicians has been founded, which also includes the former German Foreign Minister Fischer. Looking at Tilray's portfolio, it is clear that not only medical Cannabis is the core of the busi- ness, but also consumer products for "recreational use" are part of the future product portfolio through cooperation with beverage companies (InBev) and tobacco companies. Even with the phar- maceutical industry there are no fears of contact and therefore Tilray concluded a global cooperation with Sandoz for the marketing of medical Cannabis. Tilray is represented in Germany with its own branch.