Business news :Billabong Agrees To Due Diligence With Naude’s Group

Billabong announced that a consortium led by Paul Naude, a board director and former head of Billabong’s Americas division, and New York-based private equity firm Sycamore Partners, has signed a confidentiality agreement with Billabong to pursue a transaction. It is expected that the due diligence process will take up to six weeks.

As reported, the consortium on December 19 made an offer of A$1.10 a share to acquire the company. The new bid is valued at A$527 million ($554 million). The offer is subject to due diligence, regulatory approval and completion of financing from a group led by Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit.

In granting due diligence, Billabong said in a statement, "The Board of Billabong reiterates that there is no guarantee that, following a period of due diligence by the Consortium, an acceptable binding proposal will be forthcoming. In the meantime Billabong shareholders do not need to take any action in relation to this matter."

The company's brands include: Billabong, Element, Von Zipper, Honolua Surf Company, Kustom, Palmers Surf, Xcel, Tigerlily, Sector 9, DaKine and RVCA.

As reported, Billabong in February rejected a A$3.30 bid by TPG Capital TPG.UL in February as too low, and then have subsequent offers of A$1.45 from TPG and Bain Capital withdrawn after due diligence.

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( SportsOneSource Media )