Timberland Co. (TBL) races north on VF takeover

Timberland Co. (NYSE: TBL) shares jumped 42.6% to $42.76 Monday after clothing-brand owner VF Corp. (NYSE: VFC) said it would acquire the shoe seller. Volume for Timberland neared 13 million shares in the first two hours of trading Monday, routing an all-day average of 717,303.

The announcement came down early Monday that VF, a leader in branded lifestyle apparel, will pay Timberland shareholders $43 per share, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $2 billion net of cash acquired. The merger agreement was unanimously approved by both companies’ Boards of Directors.

In the June 13 press release outlining the details surrounding the purchase, VF CEO Eric Wiseman exulted, “the Timberland® brand is synonymous with high quality outdoor footwear and apparel.

Wiseman continued, “This will be a winning combination, leveraging VF’s international and direct-to-consumer platforms to drive growth in the Timberland® and Smartwool® brands globally. At the same time, VF will benefit from Timberland’s rugged outdoor footwear expertise, international penetration in markets such as Japan, and leadership position in sustainability.”

Concurred Timberland CEO Jeffrey Swartz in the same release, “Timberland is proud of its rich heritage, its track record of success and its reputation as a responsible and environmentally-conscious global citizen, all of which will be preserved and enhanced by becoming part of the VF family of brands.”

Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, VF Corporation is a global leader in branded lifestyle apparel with more than 30 brands, including Wrangler®, The North Face®, Lee®, Vans®, Nautica®, 7 For All Mankind®, and Splendid®.

Based in Stratham, New Hampshire, Timberland is a global leader in the design, engineering and marketing of premium-quality footwear, apparel and accessories for consumers who value the outdoors and their time in it. Timberland markets products under the Timberland®, Timberland PRO®, Mountain Athletics®, SmartWool®, Timberland Boot Company® and howies® brands, among others.

Tags: buzz stocks, consumer discretionary, NYSE, TBL, VF

This entry was posted on Monday, June 13th, 2011 at 11:09 am by Glenn and is filed under Consumer Discretionary Stocks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.