Orchestra-Prémaman one step closer to Destination Maternity

By

Sarah Ahssen

Published
Dec 14, 2015

France's Orchestra-Prémaman has announced the acquisition of 13% of the ordinary shares of Destination Maternity Corporation, the American specialist in clothes for pregnant women.

In 2012 and 2013, the children's specialist acquired Belgian childcare retailers Prémaman and Baby 2000, and is apparently also interested in buying Prénatal in Spain. Orchestra has now stated that a letter was sent to the board of directors of Destination Maternity, proposing a possible merger between the two companies.

"Through the proposed operation, Destination Maternity shareholders would receive $25 million in cash, as well as ordinary shares for Orchestra-Prémaman, in exchange for Destination Maternity shares, with a 45% merger bonus calculated on Destination Maternity's quoted market price," Orchestra-Prémaman stated in a press release.

While underlining that there is no certainty about the merger, Orchestra-Prémaman stated that on 13th December, following the rejection by Destination Maternity of its initial offer, the company sent a letter to Destination Maternity's Board of Directors reiterating the offer made with the letter of 29th October 2015.

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Destination Maternity is based in the USA and has a network of 1,868 retail outlets in North America, including 557 stores under its brands Motherhood Maternity, A Pea in the Pod and Destination Maternity. The group's sales in 2014 reached $510 million. Destination Maternity also operates 128 franchised stores in the Middle East, South Korea, Mexico and Israel.

For the fiscal year 2014-15, closed on 28th February, Orchestra-Prémaman published a consolidated revenue of €513.3 million, equivalent to an 11.8% increase.