Frasers Group will not pursue a voluntary offer for shares in XXL ASA at NOK 10 (€0.86) per share.
Frasers Group first announced its proposed bid for XXL ASA in early December. The British group holds 25.8 percent of the issued share capital in XXL, so the total value of the deal to acquire all the shares was around NOK 246 million (€21.1m).
On Dec. 6 SGI Europe could report that Frasers Group had announced its intention to voluntarily offer all outstanding shares of XXL ASA.
But the retail giant has now pulled out of the deal, because its offer was subject to conditions.
Frasers was informed that XXL’s other major shareholders would not accept the offer. This means Frasers would be unlikely to achieve its goal of holding more than 50 percent of the shares in the struggling sports retailer.
The company’s December offer came after a revolt by shareholders over management’s plans to fund a turnaround. The Norwegian retailer has struggled with a weak sports market and has posted ten consecutive quarters of negative growth. The future of XXL ASA is unclear.
