WEST SENECA, N.Y. -- The S.M. Flickinger Co., a major food wholesaler, Monday announced an agreement in principle for a merger with a California firm.
Flickinger, based in the Buffalo suburb of West Seneca, said the agreement was reached with Riordan, Freeman & Spogli of Los Angeles, a privately owned merchant banking firm.
The corporation would be controlled by Riordan, Freeman & Spogli, and affiliates.
The merger was subject to the final agreement of both parties.
Under proposed terms of the merger, Flickinger stockholders would receive $34 in cash for each share of stock. Flickinger family members own 38 percent of the company.
Jerry Metcalf, chief executive officer of Flickinger and James Thompson, Flickinger's chief financial officer, will have equity interests in the corporation, the announcment said.
The merger proposal will be submitted to Flickinger stockholders at a special meeting in June, and approval will require a majority vote.
'The operations of Flickinger following the merger will be carried on substantially as before,' said Metcalf in a statement issued by the firm. Metcalf will continue as chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer.
Flickinger has 7,000 employees in nine states with about 700 in western New York. The firm serves 1,500 grocery stores in the mid-Atlantic, southeast and midwest regions.
The company recently announced plans to open a prototype discount drug store, called Jay-Jay's, in the Syracuse area before May 1.
Flickinger had a $11.8 milion profit on $1.47 billion in sales and a 16 percent gain in earnings for the fiscal year ending July 31, 1983.
For the second quarter ending Jan. 28, Flickinger had income of $2.7 million, or 56 cents a share, compared with $2.3 million -- or 49 cents a share -- last year. Sales rose from $367.8 million in 1983 to $372.7 million in 1984.
