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Geerlings & Wade Halts Merger With Private Firm
Geerlings & Wade, a publicly traded marketer of wine and wine accessories, has pulled the plug on its merger deal with Liquid Holdings Inc., a private company formed by entrepreneur Ronald Haft. In September 1999, Liquid Holdings
had announced plans to acquire the wine retail company for about $40 million in cash.
Geerlings & Wade said that the deal was automatically terminated because Liquid Holdings could not come up with a binding equity commitment by the merger's Feb. 21 deadline. The merger deal had stipulated that Geerlings & Wade would have to approve any financial source Liquid Holdings brought into the deal.
The wine retailer has not announced any further decisions about its future plans. "This has been a long process for everyone involved in the transaction," said Jay Essa, president of Geerlings & Wade. "We think it's appropriate to take some time to assess the direction the company will head to from this point on."
Founded in 1986, Geerlings & Wade sells wine through catalogs, retail shops and its Web site, www.geerwade.com, for delivery to 28 states.
-- Jacob Gaffney
Read the past news report about this deal:
Sept. 30, 1999
Private Company to Buy Wine Marketer Geerlings & Wade
