Australian surfwear retailer Billabong International Ltd. (BLLAF.PK,BBG.AX) Monday said its board has received an indicative, non-binding and conditional proposal from a consortium, comprising Altamont Capital Partners and VF Corp., to acquire all of the shares in Billabong for A$1.10 per share in cash.
It was on December 18, that Billabong board received a confidential, indicative, non-binding and conditional proposal from Sycamore Consortium to buy the company for A$1.10 per share in cash. The consortium comprised Paul Naude, Sycamore Partners Management as cornerstone equity investor and Bank of America Merrill Lynch as lead debt financier.
Following this, the company said on December 24, that the Consortium had signed a confidentiality agreement with Billabong and would be granted the opportunity to conduct non-exclusive due diligence. Today, however, the Billabong board has decided that it will grant the Altamont/VF Consortium, the same opportunity.
Billabong noted that the proposal is subject to due diligence and conditional on a number of other matters equivalent to those in the Sycamore Consortium.
Billabong said it would disclose the results of process of evaluating the proposal in about six weeks. According to the company, there is no guarantee that an acceptable binding proposal will be made either from the Sycamore or the Altamont/VF Consortium.
The clothing company has resorted to asset sales and store closures as consumer spending declined in Australia together with the economic crisis in North America and Europe debt crisis. It had received two takeover offers previously, but in October last year, private equity firm TPG International LLC had withdrawn its takeover offer and ended talks. Another bidder also had withdrawn the offer a month prior to that.
BBG.AX is currently declining 1.74 percent at A$0.84.
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by RTT Staff Writer
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