05:30 AM EDT, 09/05/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Eastside Distilling ( EAST ) said late Wednesday it is planning to merge with Beeline Financial, a privately held operator of a real-estate digital platform.

Under the agreement, Eastside will issue Beeline shareholders a combination of common and preferred stock as merger consideration.

Shares of Eastside surged over 183% in premarket activity Thursday.

The company said Beeline is among the "first in mortgage origination to deliver AI-driven customer service tools and is now launching sales support AI leading to lower cost conversions for Direct-to-Consumer platforms."

In conjunction with the deal, Eastside said it executed a debt-for-equity exchange with private investors. It also executed an asset sale of Craft Canning plus Digital Printing to the same group of investors.

The company expects this transaction will eliminate all debt from its balance sheet.

Eastside and Beeline's boards have approved the merger deal, which remains subject to conditions and will likely close "later this year."

Price: 2.1600, Change: +1.40, Percent Change: +183.84