Boulder Specialty Brands Inc., a fledgling Longmont company run by a team of food-industry veterans planning to acquire unspecified food or beverage companies, raised $102 million in a stock sale Monday.
The company sold 12 million units – one share and one warrant to buy one share – for $8 apiece. The shares were being thinly traded under the ticker BDSBU on the over-the-counter bulletin board, a stock exchange for nascent or delisted companies.
Citigroup and Roth Capital Partners underwrote the sale.
Boulder Specialty, founded in May, conducted the so-called “blank check” stock offering, in which companies ask people to invest without knowing precisely how management intends to spend their money.
In this case, the company has said it plans to acquire one or more businesses in the food or beverage industry within 18 months, according to its filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
As of Sept. 30, the company’s reported assets were negligible: $269,000, with liabilities of $245,000, SEC filings show.
The company is headed by Stephen B. Hughes, who was the chief executive of tea maker Celestial Seasonings before it was acquired in 2000 by the Hain Food Group Inc. Before that, Hughes worked for two heavyweights in the food business, Tropicana Products Inc. and ConAgra Foods Inc.
James E. Lewis, another longtime food-industry executive, is the company’s vice chairman and director.
Hughes declined comment when reached Monday, citing an SEC-mandated quiet period.
More than two decades ago, at the height of the penny-stock industry, blank-check offerings were common in Denver and elsewhere. However, investors and state and federal regulators soon became wary of abuses in blank-check offerings.
Staff writer Will Shanley can be reached at 303-820-1260 or wshanley@denverpost.com.
