Reddy, Set, Tank

Late yesterday, Dallas-based ice-maker Reddy Ice announced that on Wednesday, its offices had been raided by federal authorities for undisclosed reasons. The release says only that “federal officials executed a search warrant at the Company’s corporate office in Dallas on March 5, 2008” and that “the Company is cooperating with the authorities” and “will continue to function in a normal business manner.” Only, not so much — as this morning, Reddy Ice’s stock has gone into the deepest of freezes, plunging nearly $7 in early trading to $16.19. –Robert Wilonsky

Update: A little more about that raid: “The execution of the search warrant was directed by the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice in connection with an investigation of the packaged ice industry. The Company’s board of directors has formed a special committee of independent directors to conduct an internal investigation.”