Cassidy Asset Management Inc. launches Cannabis Private Equity Fund
TORONTO, Dec. 19, 2018 /CNW/ - Co-Founders Rick Meslin and Michael Krestell are pleased to announce the launch of Cassidy Asset Management Inc.
Cassidy's first fund (Cassidy Fund 1 LP) will make investments in the rapidly growing global cannabis industry. "We will be investing patient, partnership-oriented capital in companies throughout the industry's value chain", said Cassidy's CEO Rick Meslin. "We believe that we can contribute to and accelerate the growth of our portfolio companies by providing the capital and experience that meaningfully changes a company's growth trajectory."
The rapid expansion of the global cannabis industry is creating significant investment opportunities and risks. "Our combined 30+ years of capital markets experience and participation in the Canadian legal cannabis industry since its inception provides us with access to proprietary opportunities that cover the most exciting themes in the cannabis eco-system," added Meslin.
"While many cannabis investors have exposure to volatile publicly listed companies, we are looking to assemble a diversified portfolio of early stage and seed round investments at attractive valuations," said Cassidy CIO Michael Krestell. "We believe our unitholders and portfolio companies will benefit from our deep industry-specific experience and many years of advising sophisticated institutional investors."
Cassidy anticipates closing its Cassidy Fund 1 LP during Q1 2019.
Biographies
Rick Meslin
Rick has enjoyed a successful 19 year career as a business leader in investment banking, leading high-performing teams providing investment recommendations and advisory services to institutional investors and companies around the world. Rick started as a summer student and later became the CEO & Head of Equities of UBS Securities Canada where Rick was responsible for the financial performance, risk management and compliance functions of the public and private businesses. More recently, Rick built and managed the Canadian-based equities sales and trading group at Wells Fargo Securities in Toronto. Rick has been closely involved with early-stage companies in the cannabis ecosystem and is an investor with holdings in Strainprint, Ample Organic, Cresco Labs, DNA Genetics, Diablo Retail Concepts, and Dynaleo.
Rick is a CFA Charterholder, he earned an MBA (Ivey Scholar) from the Ivey School of Business, and received an LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School.
Rick is also active in the community serving on the Business Innovation and Development Committee at Mount Sinai Hospital, and as a proud assistant coach of the GTHL 2004 'A' Toronto Shamrocks hockey team.
Michael Krestell
Michael co-founded PharmaCan Capital (now The Cronos Group Inc.) in 2013 to make investments in the emerging cannabis industry and remained on Cronos' Board of Directors until July 2018. Cronos is one of the world's largest publicly traded cannabis companies (CRON on NASDAQ and TSX) and recently attracted a strategic investment from Altria Group Inc. Michael played an integral role in assembling Cronos' portfolio, obtaining the company's initial public listing and bringing in early strategic investors.
As an Equity Research Analyst covering the Merchandising and Consumer Product sector Michael received a StarMine award by being the number 4 ranked stock-picker in Canada.
Outside of the Investment industry Michael has performed senior financial and operational roles with a number of companies including, The Hudson's Bay Company, The Second Cup Coffee Co. and Scott's Food Services as well as a technology start-up called Empori.com that was created to handle the depot-style delivery of online purchases in the early days of e-commerce.
Michael is a CFA Charterholder, he earned an MBA with distinction specializing in Finance and Strategic Management from the Schulich School of Business, and completed a BA in Math for Commerce at York University.
About Cassidy Asset Management Inc.
Cassidy is a Toronto based asset management firm. Its first fund (Cassidy Fund 1 LP) invests in early-stage high growth potential companies in the medical and recreational cannabis industry. Rick and Michael have been actively investing in the legal cannabis industry in Canada since 2013. Cassidy Fund 1 LP is currently accepting new investments from accredited investors and Cassidy Asset Management Inc. is a registered Exempt Market Dealer (EMD) and Portfolio Manager (PM) in the Province of Ontario.
SOURCE Cassidy Asset Management Inc.
Rick Meslin, [email protected]; Michael Krestell, [email protected]
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