Charlie's to buy Arano

Charlie's is sucking up the competition with a just announced deal to buy fellow juice company Arano.

Charlie's said today it has entered into three separate conditional agreements to buy the component businesses and brands associated with the Arano juice and smoothie brand.

The contracts with Devore Group, Dysart Beverages and JuiceExtractors NZ are interdependent on each other.

Payment will be $4.65 million in cash and 6 million Charlie's shares.

Conditions include the completion of due diligence, all three agreements being declared unconditional, and final negotiations on other matters by October 14.

If the conditions are satisfied the purchase will be completed on October 21.

Charlie's chief executive Stefan Lepionka said the acquisition would give Charlie's access to 64 acres of mature Valencia juicing oranges based in Gisborne.

"These are lines of business Charlie's has not had a significant presence in to date andare complementary to the company's involvement within the New Zealand beverage industry", he said.

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 were up 1.5c today to 14.5c.

- NZPA