Updated
Kiwi retailer, Briscoe, has made a cash and share takeover bid for Trans-Tasman outdoorwear retail chain Kathmandu.
The homewares retailer and parent company of Rebel Sport in New Zealand is offering Australian and NZ-based shareholders in Kathmandu five of its shares for every nine Kathmandu shares.
Briscoe wants to buy the 80 per cent of the ordinary share capital of Kathmandu that it doesn’t already own through the issue of 89.7 million of its shares and payment of $NZ32.3 million ($A28.36 million) in cash.
The company says its offer equates to $NZ1.80 (approximately $A1.58) per Kathmandu share and a cash payment of 20 NZ cents per Kathmandu share.
The offer comes a day after Briscoe announced its takeover intentions after increasing its stake in the embattled outdoor retail chain to nearly 20 per cent.
Briscoe Group managing director and majority shareholder, Rod Duke, said the offer represented a substantial premium for Kathmandu shares.
He said the acquisition would create an Australasian retailing group with annual sales of more than $NZ900 million ($A790.24 million) and strong earnings potential.
“Our intention is to bring the best practices from each organisation and leverage the scale of the combined group to grow earnings for the benefit of all shareholders,” he said.
“A larger company would also have a superior sharemarket presence, and should see more trading liquidity.”
He said a combined Briscoe and Kathmandu group would have a broader and more diverse product offering that would be able to naturally compensate for seasonal trading patterns.
Briscoe chairman Dame Rosanne Meo said Duke had played a big part in Briscoe’s success, which has 80 stores across New Zealand and a market value of about $NZ600 million ($A526.82 million).
Kathmandu is yet to respond to the offer.
However its shares were 6.5 cents, or 4.1 per cent, at $1.505 at 1453, after having surged 25 per cent in the previous session.
AAP
