Smoky Market Foods announced its guidance for implementation of a significantly refined financing and operating plan. This development has been accomplished through continued private financial support from Company officers and investors.
"SMKY's story the past few years has admittedly been difficult for shareholders and investors to understand," said Eddie Feintech, Chairman, President and CEO. "It's been an enduring process to both get it right, and get it done fairly and equitably for existing shareholders," he continued.
The Company engaged a team of consulting affiliates to provide marketing and investment banking expertise and assistance to refine its financial marketing plan, and execute a focused strategy that leverages both its status as a reporting public company, and its capabilities to produce artisan quality, value-added smoked food for international distribution.
To finance such acquisitions, the Company has signed two investment banking agreements with a leading New York-based investment bank to assist in placing its acquisition financing and to raise equity by public offering. The investment banking firm, founded in 1925 and one of the oldest in the United States, is a member of the New York Stock Exchange and a full-service broker-dealer employing over 500 people.
The firm manages two Morningstar-rated mutual funds and has five offices throughout the country, with over 70 retail brokers, over 10 research analysts and a pair of institutional desks trading for 800 institutional clients throughout the world.
Under the first agreement, the Company has retained the investment banking firm as its exclusive placement agent and financial advisor in connection with acquisition financing of up to $30,000,000 in senior secured debt. The Company must meet various terms and conditions, which it believes are reasonable and attainable in due course of business of this type. "In tapping fully this facility of acquisition financing during 2014, with its unique program structure, our intent is to acquire up to $75M in strategic food sector revenue that also creates expanded channels of distribution -- and on an international scale -- for our smoked foods," Mr. Feintech said.
The second agreement is a $30,000,000 firm commitment to underwrite a public equity offering on a major exchange (AMEX or NASDAQ) represented by the investment banking firm. The planned public offering is subject to the Company's successful auditing and acquisition of its current target companies, and would pay off the Company's acquisition debt.
