As Aurora faces down an unsolicited takeover bid from one of the world’s largest cannabis companies, it has continued to expand its reach in what it sees as the markets of the near future.
This week, Aurora® Cannabis (ACB) announced dual acquisitions in the UK worth £2.1m, giving it direct ownership of a licensed importer and wholesaler alongside a licensed pharmacy for the first time in what it considers ‘a very important growth market’.
On August 19, 2026, the Canadian LP acquired 100% of the shares in Birmingham-based Internod Pharma and HAP Pharma in an all-cash deal.
Andreas Dotterweich, Aurora®’s Senior Vice President, told Business of Cannabis that the acquisition was designed to shorten the distance between the company and the UK’s patient population.
“It is being a lot closer to the patient,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s patient demand, and you want to have a direct route to the patient, and the direct route to market… it gives us also control and ownership of the key import, distribution, and pharmacy capabilities.”
M&A Activity Aurora Accuses Curaleaf of ‘Pressuring Shareholders’ as it Launches Official Takeover Bid Curaleaf Holdings has pushed ahead with its unexpected and unsolicited acquisition campaign of Aurora Cannabis and has now submitted an official bid for its Canadian rival. The cannabis giant formally […]
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The two companies Aurora® now owns are closely connected. Internode Pharma’s shareholders at incorporation included Hiren Arvindbhai Patel, a pharmacist, and Mithun Patel, an accountant, according to Companies House filings. HAP Pharma, by contrast, was wholly owned by Hiren Patel alone until Mithun Patel was added to its ownership register on August 18, 2026, one day before the deal was announced.
Internode Pharma holds UK Wholesale Dealer’s Authorisation 58825, granted by the MHRA on August 14, 2024, covering the import, holding and supply of prescription-only medicines, including narcotic and psychotropic products, from an operating site in Oldbury.
That licence is the key asset behind the acquisition, giving Aurora® the right to import and distribute medical cannabis product into the UK without routing them through a third-party wholesaler.
The company’s latest accounts show £30,872 in equipment at cost by March 2026, trade creditors, and a small debtor book, though its turnover has never been made public.
HAP Pharma, meanwhile, is described as ‘a licensed pharmacy’, but has filed dormant company accounts since incorporation in April 2020, suggesting no significant trading activity.
During Aurora®’s first-quarter earnings call on August 5, Zuanic & Associates analyst Pablo Zuanic asked CEO Miguel Martin whether the company had been slow into the UK given how quickly rivals had built vertically integrated pharmacy and clinic networks there.
Martin said in response: “I don’t think we’ve been slow at all. Our real sort of focus is on the genetics, the development and the manufacturing of these medications. And in the UK, you’re right, there’s been a lot of movement on the clinical side and on the pharmacy side. Those are not areas of focus for us.”
Two weeks later, Aurora® officially acquired the pharmacy and the importer for £2.1m in cash. It’s unclear whether this was a recent shift in priorities or whether it was simply careful comms.
Dotterweich said the deal gave Aurora® ‘the key import, distribution, and pharmacy capabilities’ in a market Aurora® already served through third parties.
Europe accounted for 47.5% of Aurora®’s net revenue in the quarter ended June 30, 2026, up from 33.7% a year earlier, according to the company’s latest financial figures.
Canada’s share fell from 49.9% to 35.9% over the same period, as a cut to Veterans Affairs Canada’s cannabis reimbursement rate, effective April 1, 2026, pulled Canadian medical cannabis revenue down 25% to CA$20.7m.
Germany drove the shift. Aurora®’s international medical cannabis revenue rose 17% to CA$43.3m, which Martin told analysts meant ‘about 64% of our total net revenue was generated outside of Canada, up from 50% last year,’ with growth concentrated in Germany specifically.
Simona King, Chief Financial Officer of Aurora® Cannabis, described the quarter as reflecting ‘the strategic decisions we have made to reallocate our resources to focus on global medical cannabis opportunities,’ pointing to the Safari Flower Company acquisition, an EU-GMP certified Ontario cultivator bought on April 14, 2026, as capacity built specifically to supply ‘international markets such as Germany, Poland and the UK.’
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In a press release announcing its expanded UK operations, Martin said it marked the latest evolution of its long-term strategy, moving away from the Canadian adult-use markets towards the medical cannabis markets flourishing across Europe.
“We believe that this transaction will allow us to fully leverage our operational, commercial and regulatory expertise to expand our market share, while also supporting a consistent and reliable supply of high-quality medical cannabis products to UK patients,” Martin explained.
“Given the growing patient demand, strong acceptance of our products and increasingly prescriptive regulatory standards, the UK represents an exciting opportunity for us, and acquiring these companies provides Aurora® with greater agility to more reliably serve UK patients.”
Asked whether the deal would translate into lower prices for patients, Dotterweich said it was ‘a bit early to give a concrete answer to that,’ but that it meant ‘better access for the patients, definitely, also especially with the pharmacy.’
On the ‘increasingly prescriptive regulatory standards’ Aurora® Martin cited, Dotterweich argued Aurora®’s platform is built to handle regulatory shifts rather than be threatened by them.
“It is really not easy to anticipate what’s going on in the market and regulations,” he said. “We as a medical cannabis leader in this area, medical cannabis is our playground… we can navigate that regulatory environment with our platform. And with what we did now in the UK, it’s strengthening our platform to operate.”
That confidence extends to how central the UK now is to Aurora®’s wider growth plans. “The UK in itself is a very important growth market for Aurora®,” Dotterweich emphasised.
“A very important market with a lot of focus, also strategically… the UK market for us is really important in terms of growth within the European and within the global setup.”
The post Aurora Buys UK Pharmacy and Import Licence for £2.1m, Securing ‘Direct Route’ to Patients appeared first on Business of Cannabis.
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This week, Aurora® Cannabis (ACB) announced dual acquisitions in the UK worth £2.1m, giving it direct ownership of a licensed importer and wholesaler alongside a licensed pharmacy for the first time in what it considers ‘a very important growth market’.
On August 19, 2026, the Canadian LP acquired 100% of the shares in Birmingham-based Internod Pharma and HAP Pharma in an all-cash deal.
Andreas Dotterweich, Aurora®’s Senior Vice President, told Business of Cannabis that the acquisition was designed to shorten the distance between the company and the UK’s patient population.
“It is being a lot closer to the patient,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s patient demand, and you want to have a direct route to the patient, and the direct route to market… it gives us also control and ownership of the key import, distribution, and pharmacy capabilities.”
M&A Activity Aurora Accuses Curaleaf of ‘Pressuring Shareholders’ as it Launches Official Takeover Bid Curaleaf Holdings has pushed ahead with its unexpected and unsolicited acquisition campaign of Aurora Cannabis and has now submitted an official bid for its Canadian rival. The cannabis giant formally […]
Read the Story →
What has it acquired?
The two companies Aurora® now owns are closely connected. Internode Pharma’s shareholders at incorporation included Hiren Arvindbhai Patel, a pharmacist, and Mithun Patel, an accountant, according to Companies House filings. HAP Pharma, by contrast, was wholly owned by Hiren Patel alone until Mithun Patel was added to its ownership register on August 18, 2026, one day before the deal was announced.
Internode Pharma holds UK Wholesale Dealer’s Authorisation 58825, granted by the MHRA on August 14, 2024, covering the import, holding and supply of prescription-only medicines, including narcotic and psychotropic products, from an operating site in Oldbury.
That licence is the key asset behind the acquisition, giving Aurora® the right to import and distribute medical cannabis product into the UK without routing them through a third-party wholesaler.
The company’s latest accounts show £30,872 in equipment at cost by March 2026, trade creditors, and a small debtor book, though its turnover has never been made public.
HAP Pharma, meanwhile, is described as ‘a licensed pharmacy’, but has filed dormant company accounts since incorporation in April 2020, suggesting no significant trading activity.
During Aurora®’s first-quarter earnings call on August 5, Zuanic & Associates analyst Pablo Zuanic asked CEO Miguel Martin whether the company had been slow into the UK given how quickly rivals had built vertically integrated pharmacy and clinic networks there.
Martin said in response: “I don’t think we’ve been slow at all. Our real sort of focus is on the genetics, the development and the manufacturing of these medications. And in the UK, you’re right, there’s been a lot of movement on the clinical side and on the pharmacy side. Those are not areas of focus for us.”
Two weeks later, Aurora® officially acquired the pharmacy and the importer for £2.1m in cash. It’s unclear whether this was a recent shift in priorities or whether it was simply careful comms.
Dotterweich said the deal gave Aurora® ‘the key import, distribution, and pharmacy capabilities’ in a market Aurora® already served through third parties.
Following the growth
Europe accounted for 47.5% of Aurora®’s net revenue in the quarter ended June 30, 2026, up from 33.7% a year earlier, according to the company’s latest financial figures.
Canada’s share fell from 49.9% to 35.9% over the same period, as a cut to Veterans Affairs Canada’s cannabis reimbursement rate, effective April 1, 2026, pulled Canadian medical cannabis revenue down 25% to CA$20.7m.
Germany drove the shift. Aurora®’s international medical cannabis revenue rose 17% to CA$43.3m, which Martin told analysts meant ‘about 64% of our total net revenue was generated outside of Canada, up from 50% last year,’ with growth concentrated in Germany specifically.
Simona King, Chief Financial Officer of Aurora® Cannabis, described the quarter as reflecting ‘the strategic decisions we have made to reallocate our resources to focus on global medical cannabis opportunities,’ pointing to the Safari Flower Company acquisition, an EU-GMP certified Ontario cultivator bought on April 14, 2026, as capacity built specifically to supply ‘international markets such as Germany, Poland and the UK.’
Data & Analysis UK Medical Cannabis Prescriptions Hit 1.7 Million in 2025 as ACMD Review Approaches More than a year has passed since the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) was commissioned to conduct a formal review of the UK’s medical cannabis industry. Aside […]
Read the Story →
A UK focus
In a press release announcing its expanded UK operations, Martin said it marked the latest evolution of its long-term strategy, moving away from the Canadian adult-use markets towards the medical cannabis markets flourishing across Europe.
“We believe that this transaction will allow us to fully leverage our operational, commercial and regulatory expertise to expand our market share, while also supporting a consistent and reliable supply of high-quality medical cannabis products to UK patients,” Martin explained.
“Given the growing patient demand, strong acceptance of our products and increasingly prescriptive regulatory standards, the UK represents an exciting opportunity for us, and acquiring these companies provides Aurora® with greater agility to more reliably serve UK patients.”
Asked whether the deal would translate into lower prices for patients, Dotterweich said it was ‘a bit early to give a concrete answer to that,’ but that it meant ‘better access for the patients, definitely, also especially with the pharmacy.’
On the ‘increasingly prescriptive regulatory standards’ Aurora® Martin cited, Dotterweich argued Aurora®’s platform is built to handle regulatory shifts rather than be threatened by them.
“It is really not easy to anticipate what’s going on in the market and regulations,” he said. “We as a medical cannabis leader in this area, medical cannabis is our playground… we can navigate that regulatory environment with our platform. And with what we did now in the UK, it’s strengthening our platform to operate.”
That confidence extends to how central the UK now is to Aurora®’s wider growth plans. “The UK in itself is a very important growth market for Aurora®,” Dotterweich emphasised.
“A very important market with a lot of focus, also strategically… the UK market for us is really important in terms of growth within the European and within the global setup.”
The post Aurora Buys UK Pharmacy and Import Licence for £2.1m, Securing ‘Direct Route’ to Patients appeared first on Business of Cannabis.
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