Marapharm Ventures Inc. "Marapharm" provides an update of operations in California and announces an acquisition of an approved Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for 29,193 square feet of cannabis located in California.

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Apr 17, 2017, 20:54 ET

KELOWNA, British Columbia, April 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Marapharm announces it has entered into an agreement to purchase property located in Desert Hot Springs, CA for $1.3 million USD. The agreement is without contingencies and closes May 31, 2017. The 1.22 acres is zoned industrial for cannabis cultivation and is an approved CUP of 29,193 square feet for cultivation including 2,036 square feet of processing.

Marapharm engaged Kurt Keating to do the evaluation of this project. Kurt won 2 High Times Cannabis Cups in 2014 while cultivating medical cannabis and he has been consulting, evaluating and growing cannabis for several years. The market price for this type of marijuana at present is approximately $1000 wholesale per pound in California. The evaluation for the main floor is 5000 pounds per year. The upper floor is for 15,000 pounds per year. The additional value of the extractions enables the facility to have $17 million in annual sales. This evaluation will be part of the financial package for a loan facility for the purchase of the property and for the build-out of the property which is expected in short order.

"The permit processing for marijuana is a lengthy procedure. This acquisition is well under way in the process. Items which are completed include the required orientation meeting, development agreement, conditional use permit, preliminary review (street improvements, water retention and capacity, utilities, setbacks, grading, fire suppression, fences, walls, etc.), agreement submissions, application preparations and submissions, architecture and landscape review, environmental submissions and review, city attorney review, planning commission approvals, city council and several other steps. We have all of the trades, architect, engineers, contractors and consultants in place and we are moving ahead at a fast pace." Linda Sampson, Marapharm CEO.

Marapharm announces it has entered into an agreement for a transportation and delivery service located in Palm Desert, CA to now be known as Marapharm Delivery Cooperative, Inc. which is a corporation organized under the Cooperative Corporation Law of California. The specific and limited purpose of this corporation is to facilitate or coordinate cannabis transactions between patient members and primary caregivers. The transaction costs, fees and office are $300,000 USD. City licenses for operations are in hand and or in the application stage in San Diego, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Desert Hot Springs and other cities within Riverside County, CA.

Marapharm announces that, further to its news releases dated November 16, 2016 and November 21, 2016 that Marapharm had entered into agreements to purchase cannabis properties and that it is not proceeding with the transactions. Cathedral City, CA put a 45 day moratorium on the cannabis businesses and licenses November 25, 2016, which subsequently has been extended which caused uncertainty to the company.

Marapharm announces that, further to its news release dated February 20, 2017 that Marapharm entered into an agreement to purchase a medical delivery service from Moringa Cooperative, Inc. and that it is not proceeding with the transaction because of the findings during the due diligence phase.

Marapharm announces that, further to its news releases dated September 28, 2016, October 11, 2016, and November 14, 2016, it has amended the terms of its previously announced bond offerings for its Nevada and Washington subsidiaries. Due to the delay in closing both offerings, Marapharm has cancelled the USD$10 million bond offering for its Washington subsidiary and will close on a portion of the USD$5.5 million bond offering for its Nevada subsidiary. The terms of the Nevada bond offering provide for the issuance of secured convertible bonds at an issue price of US$10,000 per bond, bearing compound interest at the annual rate of 8.5% until the maturity date of 24 months from the closing date. The proceeds from the bond offering will be used as a debt facility for Marapharm Las Vegas, LLC ("MLV") and the bonds will be secured by the assets of MLV, which include real property, buildings, 3 special use licenses for 300,000 square feet of medical marijuana cultivation, and equipment. The bonds will be open for prepayment without penalty, with monthly payments of principal and interest beginning 4 months and a day from the closing date. In addition, Marapharm has agreed to issue a 3% bonus for each bond issued, such bonus to be payable with Marapharm common shares at a deemed price of USD$0.75 per share on the closing date. The bonds, in part or in full, are convertible into common shares of Marapharm. A finder's fee of up to 10% is payable to finders. The expected closing date of the bond offering is subject to Trustee approval. Marapharm has agreed to accrue interest on the bonds for the first month commencing March 31, 2017, as a result of the delay in closing the offering.

ABOUT MARAPHARM VENTURES INC.
www.marapharm.com

Construction photos and videos can be accessed through the Marapharm website. Marapharms common shares are publicly traded in Canada, under the ticker symbol "MDM" on the Canadian Securities Exchange, and in the United States, under the ticker symbol "MRPHF" on the OTCQB, and in Europe, under the ticker symbol "2M0" on the FSE.

Marapharm has 300,000 square feet of medical marijuana licenses for its land and facilities in WA and NV. About two and a half years ago, Marapharm applied in Canada to Health Canada for a MMPR (production and sales) license and has passed the necessary security clearances. The application is currently in the in-depth screening process. In September 2016, Health Canada contacted Marapharm with a provision to amend its application to allow for the new regulations, ACMPR.

Additional information on the operations or financial results of Marapharm are included in reports on file with applicable securities regulatory authorities and may be accessed through the CSE website (www.thecse.com), the OTC website (www.otcmarkets.com), and the SEDAR website (www.sedar.com) under the profile for Marapharm Ventures Inc.

STOCK EXCHANGES:
Neither the CSE, the FSE nor the OTCQB® has approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the CSE, the FSE nor the OTCQB® accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD - LOOKING STATEMENTS:
Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward looking statements. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", 'may", "will", "project", "should", 'believe", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumption but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and the forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
www.marapharm.com or Linda Sampson, CEO, 778-583-4476 info@marapharm.com

Source: MARAPHARM VENTURES INC.

SOURCE Marapharm Ventures Inc.