Belle International Holdings, the largest mainland retailer of women's shoes, has offered to buy out smaller peer Mirabell International Holdings for HK$1.57 billion to strengthen its high-end and overseas businesses.
Belle will pay HK$6 for each Mirabell share, representing a 15.16 per cent premium over the stock's close of HK$5.21 on February 22, its last trading day before suspension.
Mirabell's branded products, priced at between US$60 and US$300, belonged to 'a market segment that Belle considers to have huge growth potential' on the mainland, the company said in a statement late last night.
Despite concerns of a global economic slowdown, mainland retailers such as Belle and Mirabell are expected to maintain earnings growth, thanks to unabated domestic consumption. Mainland retail sales surged 17 per cent last year to 8.9 trillion yuan (HK$9.72 trillion).
Belle, which raised HK$8.68 billion from a Hong Kong listing in May last year, has made several acquisitions to expand on the mainland.
In November, the company agreed to buy shoe distribution assets from rival Jiangsu Senda Group for 1.6 billion yuan.