Pacific Brands backs away from takeover talks, affirms earnings guidance

Tuesday 15th May 2012

Pacific Brands, which wrote down its ailing underwear business by A$388.7 million in February, has backed away from a takeover bid after holding early talks with at least two prospective suitors.

The Melbourne-based company, which owns the Stubbies, Berlei, Bonds, Dunlop and Sheridan clothing brands, received an unsolicited offer from US private equity firm KKR in January that reportedly valued the manufacturer at A$600 million, a price dubbed "opportunistic" by fund manager Will Seddon of White Funds Management in Sydney at the time.

Pacific Brands had subsequent approaches in February. "Having explored these enquiries,the board of Pacific Brands has concluded that a definitive proposal for the acquisition of the entire issued capital of the company is unlikely to be forthcoming in the near term," the company said in a statement.

"Due to the transformation and restructuring work completed, the company remains well-placed to deal with the challenges ahead of it and then to benefit from any improvement in market conditions."

Pacific Brands has been owned by private equity firms before – CVC Asia Pacific and Catalyst Investment Managers took the company public in 2004, having acquired the business in 2001.

The manufacturer affirmed full-year pretax earnings guidance of between A$125 million and A$130 million, as it reduces its range of brands and invests in business-to-business and direct-to-consumer channels.

The company posted a loss of A$362.4 million in the six months ended Dec. 31 after writing down the value of its underwear business amid a 20 percent slump in sales. Pacific Brands dual-listed shares, which trade mostly on the ASX, closed yesterday at 62 Australian cents. On the NZX, the stock was unchanged at 75 cents.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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