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Brewbound, the industry publication, wrote that the change in distributors had “positioned Atwater as a potential acquiree of Molson Coors.”

Private equity investors are typically involved, borrowing lots of money without using much of their own, and often using the acquiree’s assets as collateral.

Q: When one firm buys another, does the acquiree’s stock price always go up?

“That information, at the request of the acquiree, is to remain confidential” for a few weeks, “just to be less disruptive to employees and customers,” said First Financial President Joseph Kiley in a telephone interview.

A statement issued by Verizon, meanwhile, was terse and seemed intended to distance the company from its would-be acquiree: “Within the last two days, we were notified of Yahoo’s security incident. We understand that Yahoo is conducting an active investigation of this matter, but we otherwise have limited information and understanding of the impact. We will evaluate as the investigation continues through the lens of overall Verizon interests, including consumers, customers, shareholders and related communities.”