Surf brand Quiksilver files for bankruptcy in order to relaunch

Restructuring

Only the American branch of Quiksilver has filed for bankruptcy as the company says things are going well enough in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region to continue as it was over there.

Once the company is restructured, Oaktree will invest 175 million dollars (157 million euro) into the business, in return for the majority of the shares.

Oaktree already has nearly 20 % of shares in Quiksilver’s major competitor, Australian surf brand Billabong. Analysts believe a merger may be coming, but Quiksilver has denied those rumours at the moment.

Lost track

Only last week, it became apparent Quiksilver was on the lookout for a buyer as the brand has been in turmoil for quite a while. Fast-fashion retailers, like H&M and Zara, have stolen a lot of customers and the brand has not been able to recover from that.

Over the past fiscal year, Quiksilver’s turnover dropped 11 % with an even bigger blow for the American branch as local turnover dropped 16 %. The company has not been able to meet analyst expectations in the current fiscal year either. All in all, the company has not made a profit for 2 years, despite its earlier efforts to get back on track. It had sold several brands in an attempt to become a more specialized brand, but to no avail.