QUIKSILVER MAKES $150 MILLION TAKE OVER BID FOR COMPETITOR BILLABONG

Huntington Beach based Boardriders Inc., the parent company of apparel maker Quiksilver, has made a $150 million dollar bid for competitor Australia based Billabong.

The takeover would require the approval of Billabong’s Board and regulators and would be at $0.75 USD per share.

Los Angeles based Oaktree Capital Management is the majority shareholder of Boardriders Inc. and also owns 19% of outstanding Billabong shares.

The deal could provide operational cost reductions to both companies which have struggled to survive in recent years. Quicksilver has a history of making bad acquisitions. It’s takeover of Rossignol ended when Quicksilver sold the brand for a loss in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Billabong’s USA operations are headquartered in Irvine.