(Reuters) - Canada's Aurora Cannabis Inc <ACB.TO> said on Monday it increased its stake in Australia-based Cann Group Ltd <CAN.AX> to 22.9 percent from 19.9 percent, its latest move to expand in the cannabis industry.
Aurora, already Cann Group's largest shareholder, said it bought the shares at A$2.50 ($1.90) apiece.
Shares of Cann Group ended 4.7 percent higher at A$3.14 on the Australian Stock Exchange on Monday.
Cann Group was the first Australian company to receive a licence to research and cultivate cannabis for medical purposes.
Aurora will also invest C$12 million ($9.4 million) in Canadian biotechnology company Radient Technologies Inc <RTI.V>. The investment will increase Aurora's stake in Radient to 19.18 percent from 8.8 percent.
The investments come as Aurora - one of Canada's biggest cannabis makers - looks to expand ahead of expectations that Canada will legalize the production, sale and consumption of recreational marijuana.
Aurora is also trying to buy medical marijuana company CanniMed Therapeutics Inc <CMED.TO>, which last week adopted a "poison pill" plan to prevent a takeover.
Radient's stock rose nearly 10 percent on Monday on the TSX Venture Exchange.
(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan and Taenaz Shakir in Bengaluru; editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar)
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