The M&A scramble for Europe has continued at a fearsome pace over the last few weeks. Organigram has closed its landmark acquisition of Berlin-based Sanity Group in a deal worth up to €250 million.
Aurora® Cannabis this week announced the purchase of Safari Flower Company, adding a purpose-built EU-GMP certified facility in Ontario to feed its European export pipeline.
Tilray, having spent years assembling a 20-country distribution network, has moved to acquire UK medical cannabis clinic Lyphe, alongside its buyout of major alcohol brand Brewdog.
Canadian licensed producers already dominate European medical cannabis supply chains. According to Statistics Canada trade data, exports across dried flower, extracts, and medicament categories totalled CA$51.6 million in February 2026 alone, with Germany absorbing more than 60% of that by value. Now, the same producers are moving to dominate European operations.
One Canadian frontrunner, however, is notably absent from this fervent land-grab. Canada’s largest dried flower producer and one of the world’s largest EU-GMP certified cannabis operators, Village Farms, is watching this flurry of M&A activity from the sidelines patiently.
“Our industry has historically suffered from a little bit of shiny object syndrome,” Sam Gibbons, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Village Farms, told Business of Cannabis.
“We usually see a lot of overzealousness and capital gets thrown at the next exciting thing… We really want to be sure that any decisions we make from an M&A standpoint are going to be smart long-term investments with partners who want to be in it for the long haul.”
This more cautious approach is all the more notable given that Village Farms is in a prime position to make such strategic acquisitions. According to its latest financial filings, Village Farms ended 2025 with $86 million in cash, record full-year net income of $21 million, and $58 million in operating cash flow.
Although the company may have remained absent from the recent spate of headline transatlantic M&A deals, it is by no means ignoring the European opportunity.
Currently, Village Farms’ European strategy has two main arms. The first is a medical export business run from its EU-GMP certified production campus in Delta, British Columbia, a 4.8m square foot facility operated by its wholly-owned subsidiary Pure Sunfarms.
From there, the company ships pharmaceutical-grade dried flower to Germany, the United Kingdom, Israel, Australia, and New Zealand, and it is in the process of adding further markets, with new country announcements expected later in 2026.
According to its latest financial filings, it is currently the largest exporter of medical cannabis to Europe, with three of Germany’s top five cultivars by sales ranking, based on data compiled by market tracker Flowzz.
The second is on-the-ground operations. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary Village Farms International B.V., in the Netherlands, the company holds one of just ten licences to produce and distribute recreational cannabis under the Dutch experiment, one of the first and most closely watched regulated adult-use cannabis programmes in mainland Europe.
Its Phase I facility in Drachten has been operating at full capacity since mid-2025, with products represented in 91% of participating coffeeshops. Construction on a Phase II indoor facility in Groningen is now nearing completion, with the first grow rooms expected to be planted within weeks.
Once the facility is fully completed, later in Q2, the Groningen facility will add approximately 8,000kg of annual capacity, bringing the company’s total Netherlands production to around 10 tonnes a year.
“We expect to have our first rooms planted within the next couple of weeks,” Gibbons told Business of Cannabis in late March. “Post-processing and manufacturing should be completed by May, and the facility should be fully operational by that timeframe, ramping through Q2 and reaching full capacity by the end of Q3.”
This will see the company’s production capacity in the Netherlands quintuple, not only quietly making it a major force in the region, but also putting the company in a position to directly address concerns over whether licensed operators in the Dutch experiment can supply enough product across enough formats to displace the deeply embedded illicit market.
One of the most closely watched supply gaps in the Dutch programme’s early months was hash. When Business of Cannabis reported on the experiment’s transition phase in August 2024, hash production among the then-operational licensees was running well below the minimum stock thresholds required by the government, and ministers had written to parliament flagging the shortfall as a specific concern.
Village Farms was not yet online at that point, but Orville Bovenschen, now Global President of Operations for Village Farms, and previously the public face of the Netherlands subsidiary, had already flagged it as an opportunity.
“We’ve been producing hash in Canada for a long time and have gained a lot of expertise in the process,” he told us at the time.
The Phase II expansion in Groningen is, in part, designed to capitalise on exactly that expertise, with Gibbons noting that increased capacity will enable improved hash offerings alongside stronger pre-roll and flower supply.
As seen across much of Europe over the last year, the Dutch experiment’s longevity has been thrown into question amid recent political turmoil.
According to Gibbons, a parliamentary debate in late March addressed the programme directly, with opposition from at least one Christian party. The outcome, he said, was broadly positive with the coalition agreeing to see the experiment through its full four-year term.
“There is a party who’s not enamoured with the idea of the pilot,” Gibbons explains, “but they have agreed to see it through at least the full four years of the programme.
“There is a lot of work that needs to be done to educate local stakeholders and correct some misperceptions that aren’t really applicable. If the goals of this program are to reduce criminal activity and improve public health and safety, then our experience in Canada is a great model for success. In Canada, we’ve seen the legal market reach around 75 to 80% of the total market in the span of just eight years, which is a great reflection on the benefits of regulating cannabis and proves that when given a choice, consumers prefer safe and tested products from reputable sources..”
Despite its refrain from rushing to buy up European positions to date, Village Farms’ posture could be beginning to shift.
In late March, it announced that long-serving CFO Stephen Ruffini, a 17-year veteran who oversaw the company’s NASDAQ uplisting and its transformation into a cannabis CPG operator, would transition out of the finance role and into a newly created position focused exclusively on mergers and acquisitions.
The move was described by CEO Michael DeGiglio as reflecting the company’s commitment to ‘complementing continued organic growth investments with accretive acquisitive opportunities globally.’
Gibbons, however, suggested that the company’s long-term strategy remains intact. “We’re getting pitched a lot of things right now, especially in Europe, and we’re just not feeling like we need to rush into anything,” he says.
“We’re getting to know a lot of operators, building relationships, looking at things more strategically. We won’t rush into anything or overpay until we feel comfortable we’re getting a long-term solution.”
“We feel like we’ve got really solid visibility for the next two years or so. In the meantime, we’re being very thoughtful, prudent, and patient, and there are a lot of opportunities out there.”
The post ‘Thoughtful, Prudent, Patient’ – Why Village Farms Is Sitting Out the M&A Rush appeared first on Business of Cannabis.
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Aurora® Cannabis this week announced the purchase of Safari Flower Company, adding a purpose-built EU-GMP certified facility in Ontario to feed its European export pipeline.
Tilray, having spent years assembling a 20-country distribution network, has moved to acquire UK medical cannabis clinic Lyphe, alongside its buyout of major alcohol brand Brewdog.
Canadian licensed producers already dominate European medical cannabis supply chains. According to Statistics Canada trade data, exports across dried flower, extracts, and medicament categories totalled CA$51.6 million in February 2026 alone, with Germany absorbing more than 60% of that by value. Now, the same producers are moving to dominate European operations.
One Canadian frontrunner, however, is notably absent from this fervent land-grab. Canada’s largest dried flower producer and one of the world’s largest EU-GMP certified cannabis operators, Village Farms, is watching this flurry of M&A activity from the sidelines patiently.
“Our industry has historically suffered from a little bit of shiny object syndrome,” Sam Gibbons, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Village Farms, told Business of Cannabis.
“We usually see a lot of overzealousness and capital gets thrown at the next exciting thing… We really want to be sure that any decisions we make from an M&A standpoint are going to be smart long-term investments with partners who want to be in it for the long haul.”
This more cautious approach is all the more notable given that Village Farms is in a prime position to make such strategic acquisitions. According to its latest financial filings, Village Farms ended 2025 with $86 million in cash, record full-year net income of $21 million, and $58 million in operating cash flow.
A sleeping dragon
Although the company may have remained absent from the recent spate of headline transatlantic M&A deals, it is by no means ignoring the European opportunity.
Currently, Village Farms’ European strategy has two main arms. The first is a medical export business run from its EU-GMP certified production campus in Delta, British Columbia, a 4.8m square foot facility operated by its wholly-owned subsidiary Pure Sunfarms.
From there, the company ships pharmaceutical-grade dried flower to Germany, the United Kingdom, Israel, Australia, and New Zealand, and it is in the process of adding further markets, with new country announcements expected later in 2026.
According to its latest financial filings, it is currently the largest exporter of medical cannabis to Europe, with three of Germany’s top five cultivars by sales ranking, based on data compiled by market tracker Flowzz.
The second is on-the-ground operations. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary Village Farms International B.V., in the Netherlands, the company holds one of just ten licences to produce and distribute recreational cannabis under the Dutch experiment, one of the first and most closely watched regulated adult-use cannabis programmes in mainland Europe.
Its Phase I facility in Drachten has been operating at full capacity since mid-2025, with products represented in 91% of participating coffeeshops. Construction on a Phase II indoor facility in Groningen is now nearing completion, with the first grow rooms expected to be planted within weeks.
Once the facility is fully completed, later in Q2, the Groningen facility will add approximately 8,000kg of annual capacity, bringing the company’s total Netherlands production to around 10 tonnes a year.
“We expect to have our first rooms planted within the next couple of weeks,” Gibbons told Business of Cannabis in late March. “Post-processing and manufacturing should be completed by May, and the facility should be fully operational by that timeframe, ramping through Q2 and reaching full capacity by the end of Q3.”
This will see the company’s production capacity in the Netherlands quintuple, not only quietly making it a major force in the region, but also putting the company in a position to directly address concerns over whether licensed operators in the Dutch experiment can supply enough product across enough formats to displace the deeply embedded illicit market.
READ MORE…
‘Thoughtful, Prudent, Patient’ – Why Village Farms Is Sitting Out the M&A Rush
Has Rescheduling Accelerated the Cannabis M&A Wave?
Is a Cannabis M&A Tidal Wave on the Way?
The hash opportunity
One of the most closely watched supply gaps in the Dutch programme’s early months was hash. When Business of Cannabis reported on the experiment’s transition phase in August 2024, hash production among the then-operational licensees was running well below the minimum stock thresholds required by the government, and ministers had written to parliament flagging the shortfall as a specific concern.
Village Farms was not yet online at that point, but Orville Bovenschen, now Global President of Operations for Village Farms, and previously the public face of the Netherlands subsidiary, had already flagged it as an opportunity.
“We’ve been producing hash in Canada for a long time and have gained a lot of expertise in the process,” he told us at the time.
The Phase II expansion in Groningen is, in part, designed to capitalise on exactly that expertise, with Gibbons noting that increased capacity will enable improved hash offerings alongside stronger pre-roll and flower supply.
As seen across much of Europe over the last year, the Dutch experiment’s longevity has been thrown into question amid recent political turmoil.
According to Gibbons, a parliamentary debate in late March addressed the programme directly, with opposition from at least one Christian party. The outcome, he said, was broadly positive with the coalition agreeing to see the experiment through its full four-year term.
“There is a party who’s not enamoured with the idea of the pilot,” Gibbons explains, “but they have agreed to see it through at least the full four years of the programme.
“There is a lot of work that needs to be done to educate local stakeholders and correct some misperceptions that aren’t really applicable. If the goals of this program are to reduce criminal activity and improve public health and safety, then our experience in Canada is a great model for success. In Canada, we’ve seen the legal market reach around 75 to 80% of the total market in the span of just eight years, which is a great reflection on the benefits of regulating cannabis and proves that when given a choice, consumers prefer safe and tested products from reputable sources..”
The M&A question
Despite its refrain from rushing to buy up European positions to date, Village Farms’ posture could be beginning to shift.
In late March, it announced that long-serving CFO Stephen Ruffini, a 17-year veteran who oversaw the company’s NASDAQ uplisting and its transformation into a cannabis CPG operator, would transition out of the finance role and into a newly created position focused exclusively on mergers and acquisitions.
The move was described by CEO Michael DeGiglio as reflecting the company’s commitment to ‘complementing continued organic growth investments with accretive acquisitive opportunities globally.’
Gibbons, however, suggested that the company’s long-term strategy remains intact. “We’re getting pitched a lot of things right now, especially in Europe, and we’re just not feeling like we need to rush into anything,” he says.
“We’re getting to know a lot of operators, building relationships, looking at things more strategically. We won’t rush into anything or overpay until we feel comfortable we’re getting a long-term solution.”
“We feel like we’ve got really solid visibility for the next two years or so. In the meantime, we’re being very thoughtful, prudent, and patient, and there are a lot of opportunities out there.”
The post ‘Thoughtful, Prudent, Patient’ – Why Village Farms Is Sitting Out the M&A Rush appeared first on Business of Cannabis.
Continue reading...
