Briscoe issues a take-it-or-leave-it statement to Kathmandu

Briscoe issues a take-it-or-leave-it statement to Kathmandu shareholders

By Fiona Rotherham

Sept. 2 (BusinessDesk) - Briscoe Group, the retailer controlled by managing director Rod Duke, won't lift its price to buy Kathmandu Holding tell the shareholders in the outdoor goods chain to take it or leave it.

The original terms at an implied $1.80 a share offer in cash and scrip will remain and Briscoe won’t be extending the offer period beyond Sept. 17 unless the offer has sufficient acceptances to become unconditional, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. Briscoe is offering five of its own shares for every nine Kathmandu shares, plus 20 cents cash.

Briscoe chair Roseanne Meo said the group considers the offer price is attractive and sees no reason to increase it. Briscoe encourages Kathmandu shareholders to lodge their acceptances as soon as possible.

The takeover bid was rejected by the Kathmandu board because it felt it undervalued the chain, which was put at between $2.10 and $2.41 by Grant Samuel’s independent assessment of the offer. Kathmandu's shares fell 4.6 percent to $1.65 today.

Briscoe built up a 19.99 per cent stake in the company before signalling the takeover bid at the end of June.

The retailer also said it will announce its first-half results on Sept. 14. Briscoe shares fell 0.7 percent to $2.83.

Last week, Kathmandu announced a review of its head office structure which could cut up to 10 percent of top management employees in Australia and New Zealand.

Chief executive Xavier Simonet said the company was taking decisive action to address the recent underperformance in sales and profit and was looking to all areas of the business. The review is due for completion at the end of this month.

(BusinessDesk)

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