The shareholders of Billabong International Limited (ASX: BBG) had a small win today after the embattled surf wear company provided an update on its takeover approach by Boardriders.
According to the release, at the scheme meeting held today in the Gold Coast, the requisite number of shareholders approved the scheme of arrangement under which a subsidiary of Boardriders, Inc. will acquire all of the shares of Billabong, other than those owned by its related entity Oaktree Capital Management.
Boardriders had originally tabled an offer of $1.00 per share but increased this offer to $1.05 shortly before the meeting. This is a premium of 15.3% on the last close price of 91 cents.
Management advised that 85.87% of eligible Billabong shareholders present and voting (either in person or by proxy) were in favour of the scheme resolution, with 95.45% of their votes cast in its favour.
This means that when Billabong returns to court to seek approval of the scheme, it will also seek approval from the court to amend the terms of the scheme to reflect the increased consideration.
If everything else is approved by the court Billabong's shares will cease trading on the Australian share market on Monday April 9.
Long-term shareholders will no doubt be pleased that the ordeal is finally over. Just over 10 years ago Billabong's share price was up as high as $56.00 before its fall from grace, meaning its shares have lost over 98% of their value during this time.
What now?
Investors looking to sell their Billabong shares and reinvest the funds back into the share market might want to consider retail stars such as Lovisa Holdings Ltd (ASX: LOV) or Premier Investments Limited (ASX: PMV).
Both of these retailers are not only growing their store networks considerably in international markets, but they are achieving strong like-for-like sales growth at the same time. I think this makes them well worth taking a closer look at today.
