Quiksilver wants to acquire Billabong

Surfing brand Quiksilver tabled a 150 million dollar (125 million euro) bid for its competitor, Billabong. It may be the latter’s only way out, with compounding losses in the past few years.

Oaktree Capital

It suffered a 58 million dollar (49 million euro) loss only last year, but that was already three times as much as in the year before. Over the past five years, Billabong managed to make a profit only once. When the news was revealed, its share shot up 23 % on the Australian stock exchange.

If the deal goes through, investment company Oaktree Capital will be able to consolidate two surf brands, which it already owns for the largest part. It is a majority shareholder in Quiksilver and also owns 19 % of Billabong’s shares.

Quiksilver, founded in 1969, went bankrupt in 2015. Thanks to Oaktree Capital’s intervention, it was restructured and then delisted.

TPG Capital Management also bid for Billabong in 2012 and offered four times more than what is being offered right now. Nevertheless, the surfing brand refused the bid back then, despite the difficulties it already faced at that time.