Boulder-based Meati sells imitation meat products made from mushroom root. (Courtesy Meati)
Meati’s prospective buyer has been revealed.
Yasir Abdul, the CEO of New Jersey-based InvenTel, is the man behind the LLC hoping to purchase the Boulder-based alternative meat company for $4 million, court documents show.
Abdul has been running the business’s day-to-day operations since the middle of last month, Meati attorney Aaron Garber wrote in a recent filing. Abdul signed a management agreement soon after Garber petitioned Adams County District Court to let Abdul take over the beleaguered firm.
Adbul’s company helps design products and markets them in TV commercials, and, according to its website, is behind the red “As Seen on TV” marker found on various products.
Abdul didn’t respond to a request for comment. Court documents don’t detail how he came to make the $4 million offer for Meati, or his plan for the company, which was founded in 2016 and raised $450 million in venture capital.
Though various court filings do not explicitly mention it, the pending sale appears connected to a situation in early March, when Meati said an unspecified bank repossessed two-thirds of its cash. The move led CEO Phil Graves to warn the company’s 150 employees that Meati was at risk of ceasing operations, including at its 120,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Thornton.
Abdul is still not the official owner of the company, though filings state he has put in around $500,000 to run Meati so far. But LiveComplete, a California maker of plant-based protein powder, hopes the sale doesn’t go through.
On June 2, the business objected to the planned deal in court, alleging Garber — who Meati CEO Graves assigned the business’s assets to on May 2 — failed to respond to the interest LiveComplete expressed in possibly acquiring the company. In the filing, it asked a judge to allow a 30-day due diligence period on Meati to potentially submit a bid.
Garber believes approving that could jeopardize Meati’s ability to operate and in turn potentially give LiveComplete leverage to buy the company at a lower price.
“Since (May 2), the Lender has paid approximately $447,000.00 to keep the Company afloat. Upon information and belief, (Yasir Abdul) has paid even more,” Garber wrote in a June 11 filing asking the court to strike the objection. “It is highly unlikely that if LiveComplete was allowed the 30-day due diligence period it requests that the Lender and Buyer would continue funding these weekly expenses, resulting in the closure of the business.”
Garber and LiveComplete did not respond to requests for comment. As of Friday afternoon, an Adams County judge had yet to make a decision.
Boulder-based Meati sells imitation meat products made from mushroom root. (Courtesy Meati)
Meati’s prospective buyer has been revealed.
Yasir Abdul, the CEO of New Jersey-based InvenTel, is the man behind the LLC hoping to purchase the Boulder-based alternative meat company for $4 million, court documents show.
Abdul has been running the business’s day-to-day operations since the middle of last month, Meati attorney Aaron Garber wrote in a recent filing. Abdul signed a management agreement soon after Garber petitioned Adams County District Court to let Abdul take over the beleaguered firm.
Adbul’s company helps design products and markets them in TV commercials, and, according to its website, is behind the red “As Seen on TV” marker found on various products.
Abdul didn’t respond to a request for comment. Court documents don’t detail how he came to make the $4 million offer for Meati, or his plan for the company, which was founded in 2016 and raised $450 million in venture capital.
Though various court filings do not explicitly mention it, the pending sale appears connected to a situation in early March, when Meati said an unspecified bank repossessed two-thirds of its cash. The move led CEO Phil Graves to warn the company’s 150 employees that Meati was at risk of ceasing operations, including at its 120,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Thornton.
Abdul is still not the official owner of the company, though filings state he has put in around $500,000 to run Meati so far. But LiveComplete, a California maker of plant-based protein powder, hopes the sale doesn’t go through.
On June 2, the business objected to the planned deal in court, alleging Garber — who Meati CEO Graves assigned the business’s assets to on May 2 — failed to respond to the interest LiveComplete expressed in possibly acquiring the company. In the filing, it asked a judge to allow a 30-day due diligence period on Meati to potentially submit a bid.
Garber believes approving that could jeopardize Meati’s ability to operate and in turn potentially give LiveComplete leverage to buy the company at a lower price.
“Since (May 2), the Lender has paid approximately $447,000.00 to keep the Company afloat. Upon information and belief, (Yasir Abdul) has paid even more,” Garber wrote in a June 11 filing asking the court to strike the objection. “It is highly unlikely that if LiveComplete was allowed the 30-day due diligence period it requests that the Lender and Buyer would continue funding these weekly expenses, resulting in the closure of the business.”
Garber and LiveComplete did not respond to requests for comment. As of Friday afternoon, an Adams County judge had yet to make a decision.
