Global retail clothing group Inditex says its popular international fast-fashion brand Zara is heading to Australia next year. Inditex chief executive Pablo Isla made the announcement at the company's annual meeting in Spain. "The company plans to open its first stores in Australia and South Africa in 2011," he said.The Australian licence for Zara is held by Peter Lew, the son of retail mogul Solomon Lew.
Rip Curl International today launched its new "Rip Curl Planet" website, helping to showcase and outline the company's many environmental priorities - past, present and future. Rip Curl prides itself on being one of the world's most environmentally-conscious companies, stamping "respect for the environment" as a key value ever since Brian Singer and Doug Warbrick founded the brand in Torquay, Australia in 1969.
It’s been a whirlwind 72 hours in the planned acquisition of Canadian retailer West 49 in which Billabong, then US retailer Zumiez issued statements of their intentions to acquire the company. However Zumiez has now officially pulled out of the race and elected to discontinue its pursuit of an acquisition of West 49. Zumiez decision almost certainly clears the way for Billabong to finalise its planned acquisition. Earlier, West 49 had issued a press release announcing that Zumiez had advised West 49 that, subject to a satisfactory due diligence review, it would be prepared to make an offer, that would not be subject to a financing condition, to acquire all of the outstanding common shares and preferred shares of West 49 for a cash price in excess of C$1.30 per share (the price offered by Billabong). The decision by Zumiez to discontinue its pursuit of an acquisition of West 49 is a result of not being able to reach an agreement with West 49 on the terms of the due diligence process. Throughout the review West 49 had maintained that their special committee and board would “Continue to support the Billabong transaction and confirm their unanimous conclusion that the transaction with Billabong is in the best interests of the Company and is fair to the Company’s security holders." West 49's special committee of the board of directors offered to allow Zumiez to review the same information that was made available to Billabong and in the same manner as it was made available to Billabong, subject to Zumiez entering into the form of confidentiality agreement. However, Zumiez advised West 49 that it was not prepared to proceed with the due diligence process on that basis. Accordingly, West 49's board of directors concluded that there is no longer a reasonable expectation that Zumiez will make a proposal that is financially superior to the Billabong transaction. Phew…
Ending weeks of industry speculation Billabong International Limited today announced it has reached a conditional agreement to acquire RVCA. Based in California, RVCA was founded in 2000 by Pat Tenore. Today’s official ASX announcement has put an end to the speculation and caps a string of announcements by Billabong in recent times. Chief executive officer Derek O’Neill said RVCA was one of southern California’s most exciting emerging brands. RVCA picked up the SIMA Image Award for Men's Brand of the Year in 2009 and is reported to have revenues around US$50 million.
Quiksilver Indonesia along with retail partners, PT Gagan Indonesia opened the doors of Quiksilver’s newest store at Pondok Indah Mall 1, Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia. Paul Hutson, CEO Quiksilver SEA and Mr. Anil Konidena, COO of PT Gagan Indonesia, cut the ribbon to open the doors to the newest Quiksilver store in the world. A Fashion Show of the latest collections of Quiksilver, Roxy and DC and announcement plus exhibition of the Quiksilver & Roxy Design Competition was another highlight of the night with two undergraduate designers winning scholarships to the University of Queensland, Sydney campus design faculty in Australia.
A new development in Billabong’s bid for Canadian retailer West 49 with one of its major US retail partners, Zumiez announcing it was prepared to top Billabong's $78 million late June offer for retailer West 49. Billabong's offer was 136% more than what West 49 was valued at before the deal with announced. Since then, the company's market value has more than doubled to $82 million on the Toronto Stock Exchange, or about 5% higher than Billabong's cash offer. West 49, which is based south of Toronto, said a special committee of directors is set to determine if Zumiez can make an offer that’s better than Billabong's. Billabong would have the right to match any offer from Zumiez. A bidding war with Zumiez could represent a potential clash between a store operator and a clothing maker expanding further into retail. It’ll be interesting to see this develop. Here’s the Zumiez press release…
12:40PM / Torquay / Vic / Aus
