Did Chiquita Brands International Inc. sell its Colombian banana farms to escape the protection payments it was making to Colombian rebel groups?

The connection seems plausible, given that both the Justice Department investigation of the payments and the sale to Colombia's C.I. Banacol were announced in the last six weeks.

But not so fast. Banacol officials said they first approached Chiquita in September 2002, seven months before the company revealed the payments to U.S. officials. That revelation led to the investigation, because the rebel groups were designated as foreign terrorist organizations.

But Banacol says its interest was rooted in business.

"We didn't know anything about it," before the announcement, Ramon Miyar, president of Banacol Marketing Corp., the company's U.S. arm, said in a telephone interview.

Banacol officials acknowledged that Colombian companies have an easier time dealing with rebel groups than U.S. multinationals, which often are a target of demands for payment. And Chiquita clearly won't have to deal with the demands once the deal closes, which it hopes is within 30 days.

Chiquita officials won't say whether they've stopped making the payments. But they conceded a link between the Justice Department probe and the Banacol sale.

"There were some good business reasons why this made sense," spokesman Mike Mitchell said. "The DOJ investigation is just one more factor that was driving the talks forward."

Chips ahoy

Snyder's of Hanover will open a warehouse in Lockland after buying the regional distribution rights to its own pretzels and snacks made by Shur-Good Biscuit Co.

Cincinnati's Shur-Good had held rights to distribute its own chips and snacks, plus those made by Snyder's of Hanover, a Snyder's spokesman said. The distribution rights include Greater Cincinnati and Dayton.

The deal shouldn't mean that Shur-Good's warehouse in Oakley will close, an employee there said. Shur-Good, owned by Italian giant Parmalat, will continue to distribute cookies from that site.

Snyder's will take more than 16,000 square feet of space in a new building along Interstate 75 in Lockland, the building's developer said.

Games with games

Games Inc. still hasn't closed on its purchase of licenses for a series of icon games from Atari Inc. but believes it can go forward with a relaunched www.games.com Internet site.

Cincinnati-based Games and Atari are squabbling over the licenses, which include the digital rights to games such as Monopoly and Risk, and $3 million in prepaid royalties. Each company has filed notices of default with the other.

Games chief financial officer Myles Cairns said the revamped games.com site should be ready to launch in July.

But an investor in Games Inc. believes the Atari acquisition, and particularly the licenses to well-known game titles, is the key to helping the company survive a rough financial period that has seen it lose millions in recent years.

"It's really all about getting those titles," said Aram Fuchs of Fertilemind Capital in New York, which owns less than 5 percent of Games Inc. shares. "That was definitely the attraction.

"I'm a Wall Street guy, and if it didn't happen yesterday, I'm bothered," he said.

E-mail cpeale@enquirer.com