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Nantucket Nectars
Tom Scott and Tom First started Allserve, a floating convenience store serving boats in the Nantucket Harbour during their summer holidays in college. After graduation, during the winter of 1990, First recreated a peach fruit juice drink that he came across in Spain and started a side business selling fresh juice. Everyone loved the product and they went on to open the Allserve General Store on Nantucket's Straight Wharf. They named the fruit juice "Nantucket Nectars".
Scott and First invested their collective life savings of about $17,000 to contract a bottler and finance inventory in the first two years. The next two years saw them operating in an undercapitalized state on a small bank loan. Subsequently, in order to raise funds to improve distribution and increase inventory, they sold 50% of the company to Mike Egan. Nantucket Nectars achieved its first year of profitability in fiscal year 1995. Nantucket Nectars continued to grow and in 2000, they were approached by five companies that were interested in acquiring a portion of the company. Scott and First had to decide if they should:
1) sell a part of or all of the company;
2) undergo an initial public offering (IPO); or
3) operate under status quo.
They had several questions that they would like answered. If they do proceed with the sale, how should they negotiate for a maximum price? How could they hold the meetings with the prospective buyers and not let the employees find out about the transaction prematurely? Should they organize an auction to sell the company? Will it generate adverse publicity if they decided not to sell after the auction?
As t ...