Noni B buys Pretty Girl Fashion Group from James Parker for 75 million

Australian fashion industry woke up to the news of Noni B acquiring Pretty Girl Fashion Group from James Packer's Consolidated Press Holdings Pty Limited for 65 million Australian dollars in cash and 9.7 million Australian dollars in shares.

"With the acquisition of these already strong and profitable retail brands, the Noni B Group will become one of the pre-eminent apparel retailers in Australia with a focused market position," Noni B’s management said in a statement.

It is worth of remembering that womenswear retailer Noni B almost collapsed two years ago after it accumulated 16 million Australian dollars’ worth of losses between 2013 and 2015 and its auditor, BDO, cast doubt on the company's ability to continue as a going concern.

Now, barely a couple of years after Noni B's founders, Alan Kindl and his sons David and James, agreed to sell their 42 percent stake in the 38 year old company to Alceon in October 2014 for 51 cents a share, the female fashion chain is buying James Packer's Pretty Girl Fashion Group for at least 75 million Australian dollars.

As a matter of fact, Noni B said on Wednesday it had entered into a binding agreement to acquire Pretty Girl Fashion Group for a price twice its own market value of 40 million Australian dollars.

Noni B to fund deal with bank debt and new capital raised in rights issue

As explained by the company to local media earlier on Wednesday, the deal will be funded by 30 million Australian dollars in bank debt and new capital raised through a 40 million Australian dollars rights issue, which will kick off after the release of Noni B's full-year results in a few weeks, reported the ‘Australia Financial Report’.

Additionally, Noni B will pay another 7.3 million Australian dollars in cash over two tranches depending on the performance of Pretty Girl over the next two years.

After the deal is completed, Noni B will become one of the largest speciality apparel retailers in Australia, boosting sales from 110 million Australian dollars in 2015 to around 300 million Australian dollars and increasing its store network from around 200 to 600.

Pretty Girl has around 370 stores under four brands - Table Eight, Rockmans, BeMe, and W. Lane - all catering to Noni B's core customer, women aged 50 and over.

Since Noni B was taken over by Alceon Group in 2014, the fashion brand’s shares have risen from around 50 cents to 1.10 Australian dollars and the company has been brought back to profit.

Noni B will issue 7.72 million shares to Consolidated Press at 1.25 Australian dollars per share, giving the former media company a 10 per cent stake and one seat on the board. The company further explained that new shares issued as part of the capital raising will be issued at the same price.

The entitlement offer in full will be underwritten by Alceon Group.

Image:Noni B SS16 Collection, Noni B Official Site