Industry speculation of the apparent deal has been rife for several days, with numerous ZDNet Australia sources claiming the deal is already at the due dilligence stage.
-I'm aware of the rumours that are going around - some have merit and others don't. We are in discussions with Wishlist and a number of other parties," E-Store managing director Steven Spilly told ZDNet Australia.
-We see [a deal with Wishlist] as very positive. There are a lot of synergies between the two companies and at the same time, there are a lot of positive differences - we have different focuses and different customer bases which would prove attractive to both parties."
Spilly denied staff claims by several ZDNet Australia sources that E-Store staff were told on Friday to take a week off, with pay, to -ponder their futures". He said staff were merely given a -long-overdue few extra days off" following the Sydney labour day long weekend in recognition of their hard work.
He said all staff will be back on deck tomorrow.
While he declined to give an exact figure on what the acquisition is potentially worth, Spilly said the deal should be -substantial" given the company's projected turnover of $20 million this year.
Spilly said he expects the acquisition talks to be wrapped up within the next few weeks.
For its part, E-Store's alleged suitor, Wishlist.com.au, still steadfastly denies that it is currently engaged in any kind of acquisition process with the e-tailer, but a company spokesperson conceded that it had been approached by Spilly. -We can definitely confirm we're not in buying talks with [E-Store]. We can confirm he's called us and he's tried to commit to negotiations, but we're not interested. [Spilly] is obviously keen to sell the business, but we're not interested at all. We're not sure what he's playing at."
Disclaimer: ZDNet Australia has a content relationship with E-Store.
That sux, E-Store owe me $667.31 for an order I cancelled in January. Im trying to get the bank to reverse the transaction.