Truett-Hurst Insiders Bail Out IPO, Trading Begins

UPDATE:  THST down $0.47 in early trading.

Truett-Hurst’s (THST, Nasdaq) troubled effort to offer its stock to the public finally began after company insiders agreed to pony up what could be more than $1 million to buy orphan shares that outside investors had not been willing to purchase.

The THST offering is a modified “Dutch Auction” managed by OpenIPO and is an “all or nothing” process. Thus, the inability to sell the remaining stock to the public had kept the IPO in limbo.

In a news release late Wednesday night, (Truett-Hurst, Inc. Announces Commencement Of Initial Public Offering) the company said the auction settled on the bottom of the range and would begin trading today at $6 share.

The range had previously been lowered twice, down from its original pricing of $11 to $15 when the offering came out of the gate on on April 3.

The initial offering will raise $16.2 million. As detailed in previous Wine Executive News articles (see links below), THST is currently out of compliance with its loan covenants and must pay approximately 35% of the entire offering proceeds — $5.7 million — to pay bank loans that have been in violation of their terms since some time in 2012.

Check real-time trading at this link: Nasdaq, THST.

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Also In This Article:

The full text of the following sections is available to premium subscribers of Wine Executive News.

• AGREEING TO BAIL OUT THE ORPHAN SHARES
• NEW BROKERAGE ADDED TO BOOST SALES UNDERWRITING
• BULLETIN BOARD OR PINK SHEETS?

PREVIOUS WINE INDUSTRY INSIGHT COVERAGE

• Truett-Hurst Loses Major Distributor
• Truett-Hurst Drops Offering Price Again
• Bill Hambrecht: Billionaire’s Cash Flow Issues Have Broad Impacts
• Truett-Hurst IPO Struggles With Wary Investors, Pricing, Delays
• Truett-Hurst: Insiders, Ownership, History and Conflicts of Interest
• Truett-Hurst IPO Stumbles Over Red Flags & Confusion

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