For those who might be interested, I came across this article, which gives you the latest update of who's running Merlin (I'm not sure when Competitive Cyclist/Backcountry got rid of them). Same ownership as Dean bikes, as well as the same company that imports Challenge tires fyi. At least Merlin seems to be back to ownership that has history of building bikes.

5 questions with Dean Bikes founder John Siegrist - Longmont Times-Call

https://www.januscyclegroup.com/