Charlies drops Arano purchase plans

Listed juice company Charlie's has ditched plans to buy specialty juice and smoothie brand Arano.

Charlie's said today that following extended due diligence it had "resolved not to proceed with the sale and purchase of the business assets" relating to Arano.

On September 28, Charlie's announced it had entered into three separate conditional agreements to buy the component businesses and brands associated with Arano.

The contracts were with Devore Group, Dysart Beverages and JuiceExtractors NZ and were dependent on each other.

The purchase would have cost $4.65 million in cash and 6 million Charlie's shares and would have given Charlie's access to 26ha of mature Valencia juicing oranges based in Gisborne.

Charlie's made a back door listing on the sharemarket on July 14 through a reverse takeover by listed shell company Spectrum Resources.

Shares in the company closed at 14.6c yesterday.

- NZPA