Santa Ana’s Oasis Waters Sold in Stock Deal : Acquisition: Santa-Ana based America’s Finest Waters Inc. enters the $300-million-a-year bottled water market.

A Santa Ana company has acquired Oasis Drinking Waters Inc., one of Southern California’s largest suppliers of bottled water, in in a stock transaction.

America’s Finest Waters Inc., which recently moved its headquarters from Dallas to Santa Ana, said it will acquire all outstanding shares of Oasis held by its president, Chris Peykoff, and his family; in exchange, they will get 31% of America’s Finest’s common stock.

America’s Finest is a small start-up company that has been trying to enter the bottled water industry. Santa Ana-based Oasis, founded in 1963, has annual sales of more than $8 million.

The bottled water market is estimated at more than $300 million annually, with Southern California accounting for about half the total.

“This acquisition gets us to wet our feet in the California market,” said Richard Adams, president and chief executive of America’s Finest. The company wants to expand Oasis’ plant in Santa Ana through future acquisitions or mergers, he said.

According to the agreement, Peykoff may receive an additional 2 million shares of America’s Finest stock after 1993, provided that he meets certain conditions. Peykoff will remain president of Oasis and become a director of America’s Finest, the companies said.

The value of the stock transaction will be determined in a few months after an audit of Oasis, which employs 60 people, the companies said.

“We wanted to be acquired so we can have new capital to expand beyond California, Nevada and Arizona, and to acquire their expertise to accomplish our goal,” Peykoff said.