Company co-founder Gordon Merchant was part of the board that rejected a $4 per share offer from private equity group, TPG, in 2012 which valued Billabong at $850 million.

The privatisation in 2018 hinged on two investors, Ryder Capital and Adam Smith Asset Capital, which held a combined 15.35 per cent of Billabong and were resisting the offer despite the pleas of Billabong’s management.

“Voting against a transaction without an answer for how to deal with it is, in our view, irresponsible to shareholders and employees,” David Tanner, Billabong’s chief executive at that time, said of the lowball offer.

“Metaphorically, blood will be on their hands, and they need to own that. They are putting a gun to their own heads, other investor’s heads and employee’s heads.”

Shareholders approved the deal.

Authentic Brands, led by Chief Executive Officer Jamie Salter, is one of the most acquisitive companies in the consumer and retail sector. The deal would add to the company’s stable of well-known brands, including Reebok, Brooks Brothers and Eddie Bauer.

- with Bloomberg