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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

The TSX Venture Exchange gained a fraction to close at 593.38 Thursday. Emprise Capital Corp.'s third capital pool shell, ECC Ventures 2 Corp. (ETWO: halted), plans to acquire a U.S. company called Long Island Brand Beverages LLC for the shell's qualifying transaction. The shell will roll back 1 for 1.65, leaving it with 3,424,242 shares issued, then issue 9,202,222 shares to its target's shareholders. The shell will also pay $500,000 cash.

Long Island Brand was founded in 2011 by Philip Thomas of Long Island, N.Y. It sells 18 kinds of iced tea, including fruit-flavoured ones and zero-calorie ones, all without alcohol. It operates in the United States and dreams of expanding into Canada, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand. Its chief executive officer, Mr. Thomas, was previously the president of a food and drink distributor called MVE.

Since 2016, Long Island Brand has held a U.S. trademark for the phrase, "Long Island Iced Tea," despite the fact that this phrase has been known since the 1970s to refer not to Mr. Thomas's non-alcoholic iced teas but to the drink that contains vodka, tequila, rum and gin. Even the company's website begins with the following disclaimer: "First of all, no, it's not what you think. We don't make the most infamous cocktail ever." This likely disappoints some of its website visitors. As for investors, they might be disappointed to learn that Long Island Brand is not profitable. In 2017, the company lost $15.21-million (U.S.) on revenue of $4.43-million (U.S.).

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