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TEARS WERE FLOWING IN the corporate headquarters of TCBY Enterprises Inc. in Little Rock on Feb. 10. The regularly scheduled employee meeting at 8 a.m. had taken a surprise turn.
Frank Hickingbotham, TCBY's founder, chairman and chief executive officer, announced that the board of directors had agreed the previous night to sell the company for $140 million.
"There was a lot of emotion, not necessarily in a negative way," says Gene Whisenhunt, executive vice president and chief financial officer. "But there was some tentativeness among the employees because they weren't sure what was going to happen. It's a very close group of people."
Minutes before the staff meeting announcement, TCBY execs alerted the investment community of Stamford, Conn.-based Capricorn Management Inc.'s cash offer to acquire the company.
The news marked the end of an era for the nation's largest chain of frozen yogurt shops, about 3,000 locations all together.
Capricorn's buyout offer is expected to go to the shareholders for final approval in late April or early May.
Privately-held Capricorn owns a variety of specialty food franchises, including Mrs. Fields' Cookies and the Great American Cookie Factory, with about 1,400 locations.
The unanimous consent of the TCBY board of directors, which represents a majority block of its ownership, indicates final shareholder approval is a done deal.
TCBY filled its waffle-cone world with nearly $1.6 billion in total
revenue since its IPO in 1984 and sprinkled it with total earnings of $133 million.
Average annual profit...