SpeakEasy Enters Into License Agreement With Phenome One for Cannabis Cultivars and Announces Leadership Transition

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VANCOUVER, BC, July 20, 2020 /CNW/ - SpeakEasy Cannabis Club Ltd. (CSE: EASY) (Frankfurt: 39H) (the "Company" or "SpeakEasy") a holder of a federal licence to cultivate, process and sell cannabis under the Cannabis Act, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a license agreement (the "License Agreement") dated July 14, 2020 with Phenome One Corp. ("Phenome").   Phenome has one of the largest libraries of unique cannabis strains in the country. The Company is also delighted to announce the appointment Malcolm Davidson as Chief Executive Officer of the Company.

License Agreement

Pursuant to the License Agreement, SpeakEasy has been granted a revocable, non-transferable, non-exclusive, non-assignable, non-sub-licensable, indivisible right and license to propagate, cultivate, harvest, process and breed Phenome cultivars at its Rock Creek facility.

In consideration of the License Agreement, and subject to compliance with applicable laws, including the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE"), SpeakEasy has agreed to issue Phenome five (5) million common shares in the capital of the Company (the "SpeakEasy Shares").  

In partial consideration for the Company entering into the License Agreement, Phenome will issue to SpeakEasy an aggregate 2,484,394 common shares in the capital of Phenome (the "Phenome Shares").

The SpeakEasy Shares and the Phenome Shares will be subject to such restricted periods as are required under applicable securities laws and the policies of the CSE.  In addition, the Phenome Shares shall be subject to a contractual hold period of two (2) years from the effective date of the License Agreement.

Marc Geen, founder of SpeakEasy, states: "This partnership provides SpeakEasy with access to over 350 elite live cultivars and over 1,700 unique seed genetics for indoor and outdoor applications. The Company will be granted unlimited access to utilize any cultivars in the Phenome library while also allowing unique access to growing, breeding and proprietary propagation. Having such a large and diverse library of amazing varieties will allow us to provide exactly what our customers want, and that after all, is the whole point. Phenome's rigorous selection process brings out the best in each variety and has allowed them to develop new strains unavailable anywhere in the market. In addition to the genetics, Phenome provides unique growing techniques and methods for each variety saving months of time learning how to bring the best out of the variety."

About Phenome One Corp

Phenome One holds one of Canada's largest live genetic libraries with over 200 tested cultivars in their portfolio. Their elite line of rigorously tested production cultivars consists of all heirloom varieties dating back 3 decades: Glennwarp, the BC classics line, and all modern CBD, THC, and CBG rich cultivars.

Phenome One is a full-service cannabis farming company focused on elite strain selective breeding spanning over 29 years of generational cannabis farming experience. Phenome utilizes state of the art growing systems incorporating proprietary nutrient regimes with experience in all growing mediums. The strains and varieties have undergone extensive selection work to uncover the optimal phenome expression and stability. Phenome One's extensive library of strains are well documented with video, photos and laboratory analysis for complete cannabinoid and terpene profiles.

SpeakEasy Leadership Transition

SpeakEasy is pleased to announce the appointment of Malcolm Davidson as its Chief Executive Officer.

Dr. Bin Huang, who has served as the Company's CEO and director since June 2019, will resign effective July 31, 2020. It is expected that Dr. Huang will remain a key strategic advisor to the Board of Directors of the Company to help facilitate a smooth transition.

Says Dr. Huang, "Having completed the most significant licensing milestones, recruited a qualified successor with a CFO's skill set and CEO leadership, as well as corporate governance and capital market experience, it is time for me to move on to new opportunities and challenges. It has been personal and professional privilege to serve as the CEO of SpeakEasy."  Marc Geen, founder states "On behalf of the Company, I would like to state how grateful we have been to have had Bin join us and share her knowledge and leadership and we wish her the very best in the next chapter of Dr. Huang's professional career. The SpeakEasy team is pleased to welcome Mr. Davidson to the challenge of leading the Company forward to achieve its next milestones".

Mr. Malcolm Davidson, CPA, CA, is an outgoing and dynamic corporate executive with nearly 20 years of experience operating, financing, and developing TSX and NYSE listed mining companies. Mr. Davidson is also currently the Chief Financial Officer of Enduro Metals Corp. (TSXV:CLM).  Further, Mr. Davidson spent 8 years as CFO with Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX:ASM) helping to develop and advance the gold, silver and copper producer's projects in Mexico and Canada. Also, during his tenure with Avino, Mr. Davidson held the position of CFO of Coral Gold Resources Ltd. (TSX:CLH), where he played a key role in a significant corporate transaction with Barick Gold Corp. He has also held senior positions with several other privately held and publicly traded companies.

About SpeakEasy

SpeakEasy Cannabis Club Ltd. holds a cultivation, processing and sales license issued by Health Canada under the Cannabis Act. SpeakEasy owns 290 acres of land in Rock Creek, British Columbia, and leverages three generations of farming experience in B.C. as well as its favourable location to grow and process high-quality cannabis products at low cost. SpeakEasy cultivates small batch, high quality craft cannabis in its 10,000 square foot indoor facility and plans to complete planting its licensed 60-acre outdoor field by mid-July 2020. The Company expects to produce approximately 70,000kg of outdoor, sun grown cannabis in 2020.  

For more information about SpeakEasy, visit speakeasygrowers.com.

This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause SpeakEasy's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could" or "should" occur.

Forward-looking statements in this document include statements concerning SpeakEasy's intention to produce and sell high quality craft cannabis, its expected production output and the timeframe associated with such production output, its expectation that Dr. Huang will act as a strategic advisor, its intention to complete construction of its facilities and the timeframe within which the construction of such facilities will be completed, its intention to issue the SpeakEasy Shares and receive the Phenome Shares and all other statements that are not statements of historical fact.    

Although SpeakEasy believes the forward-looking information contained in this news release is reasonable based on information available on the date hereof, by their nature forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.  By their nature, these statements involve a variety of assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, levels of activity and achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements.

Examples of such assumptions, risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, assumptions, risks and uncertainties associated with general economic conditions; adverse industry events; future legislative and regulatory developments involving cannabis; the Company's ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favorable terms; the cannabis and hemp industries and markets in Canada and generally; the demand for CBD distillate, cannabis and cannabis related products, the ability of SpeakEasy to implement its business strategies; competition; the ability of SpeakEasy to obtain and retain all applicable licences under the Cannabis Act and other assumptions, risks and uncertainties.

THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS NEWS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE COMPANY AS OF THE DATE OF THIS NEWS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE THE COMPANY MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAWS.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

SOURCE Speakeasy Cannabis Club Ltd.

CEO, [email protected], [1-250-449-1773]