MotherNature.com Responds to Sitestar's Withdrawn Offer

CONCORD, Mass.-- Online nutritional products retailer MotherNature.com (NASDAQ:MTHR) responded to a press release issued by Sitestar Corp., withdrawing its offer to acquire MTHR. Sitestar said on Oct. 20 that it was canceling its purchase bid because of MTHR's lack of cooperation. MTHR management responded by questioning the manner with which Sitestar undertook the acquisition offer initiated back on Aug. 25 of this year. The company offered to buy all outstanding shares of MTHR for $17.4 million.

"As indicated in our last press release on this subject, MotherNature.com had originally been awaiting the commencement of a proposed tender offer by Sitestar, which Sitestar had announced twice but never, in fact, commenced," said Michael Barach, chief executive officer of MTHR. "After Sitestar changed its position and announced that it would not file a tender offer statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Sitestar refused to enter into a customary non-disclosure agreement to protect the exchange of confidential data and facilitate confidential discussions between the two companies." He added that considering the actions of Sitestar and its failure to follow customary procedure, MTHR decided against entering public negotiations with Sitestar via press releases, which is the manner the potential purchaser seemed to desire.

On the heels of its withdrawn interest in MTHR, Sitestar faced another acquisition failure, this one involving New York-based Fashionmall.com. The company offered to buy all outstanding shares of Fashionmall for $3 per share, or a total purchase of $22.5 million. However, Fashionmall reported on Oct. 24 that it questioned the validity of the Sitestar offer considering the withdraw of the MTHR offer. Benjamin Narasin, chief executive officer of Fashionmall.com and owner of 46 percent of his company's stock, noted that he previously told Sitestar that he was not interested in the offer. Fashionmall.com has reviewed the letter offer and will notify its shareholders if Sitestar actually engages in a tender offer.

For more information on the MotherNature.com situation, visit www.mothernature.com.