Canadian investment firm Purpose Investments and HANetf have teamed up to launch what they claim will be the first medical cannabis Ucits ETF listed in Europe.

The Medical Cannabis and Wellness UCITS ETF (CBSX) will list in Germany and be ‘passported’ for sale in Italy, Ireland and the UK.

The sponsors say the UK is the world’s largest producer and exporter of legal cannabis for medical and scientific uses, hence early focus on the UK.

The ETF is the first in Europe from Purpose Investments, a Canadian ETF provider and asset manager which runs a cannabis fund among a range of funds in Canada. It will launch through HANetf’s platform.

The fund will have a Total Expense Ratio (TER) of 80bps.

The fund, domiciled in Ireland, will launch next week on the Deutsche Boerse and will aim to deliver investment to the expanding medical cannabis industry.  

The companies say that medical cannabis and cannabidiol (CBD) products are being used to treat some of the symptoms of cancer, epilepsy, and chronic pain and are legal in over 40 countries.

In Europe there are now 28 countries with some form of medical cannabis legislation, say the sponsors.

As of 2018, the global medical cannabis market size was worth an estimated £10bn.

Purpose Investments has over £6bn in assets under management across a range of ETFs and traditional funds. It launched a cannabis fund in Canada in 2017, the Purpose Marijuana Opportunities Fund.

Among the companies the fund will invest in are: producers and suppliers of medical cannabis, CBD focused biotech companies and companies leasing property to medical cannabis growers.

Som Seif, chief executive of Purpose Investments said: “The medical cannabis industry was pioneered in Canada, and we’re thrilled with the opportunity to partner with HANetf to take what we have learned from our Purpose Marijuana Opportunities Fund (MJJ) to Europe.

“We believe that the cannabis sector is still in the infancy stages of a multi-year growth phase and that there is ample opportunity for innovation and new discoveries. We are very excited to embark on this journey with HANetf in a global investor market.”