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Investment Q&A

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Q: Hello Peter,
Tilray's lock period came about mid januarly and the CEO said he would not sell any share in the first half of 2019 which was a positive sign. However, later, we find that he did sell. Here is an extract from Barrons that explains why he sold (sorry for the long text below but i wanted a clarification). From what i gather, the sale had not much to do with selling due to lock up expiring but more to do with restricted shares that had to be sold for IRS purposes; hence, the CEO was not misleading anyone. Please confirm. Second, I am looking at acreage holdings, ACRG. The US company just went public a few months ago but has high profile people on the board (i.e. a US senator, and Brian Mulroney). Does this give Acreage any bonus points in terms of an investment? Thanks very much. Please Tilray article below from Barrons.


Two of Tilray’s top executives recorded stock sales last week, the first insider sales at the marijuana producer since it went public in July.

Tilray CEO Brandan Kennedy, in a form he filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission, disclosed the Jan. 24 sale of 149,916 Tilray shares for $11.1 million. That’s an average sale price of $74.21 per share. Woody Pastorius, chief revenue officer, recorded the sale of 20,578 shares the same day for $1.5 million, an average of $74.21 each.

Considering that Tilray stock was priced at $17 per share for its initial public offering, Kennedy and Pastorius are selling stock at more than four times that IPO price.

But this isn’t a case of executives cashing in on a hot stock less than a year after the IPO. The sales recorded in both executives’ forms were a matter of complying with Tilray’s vesting policy for restricted stock units (RSUs). When an RSU vests and becomes a stock, the Internal Revenue Service considers that a “taxable event” subject to withholding and payment.

Kennedy had 375,000 RSUs vest on Jan. 23 while Pastorius had 50,000 RSU vest the same day.
A Tilray spokeswoman noted that neither Kennedy nor Pastrorius sold “any of the net settled shares for personal gain”

Kennedy also serves as executive chairman of Privateer Holdings, a Seattle-based private-equity firm. Earlier this month, so-called Tilray “lockups” expired, allowing early investors including Privateer to sell their Tilray stock. Privateer issued a statement that it wouldn’t sell, which helped shore up the stock.
Read Answer Asked by umedali on January 31, 2019