The big question in the weeks ahead appears to be whether shareholders want to swap Kathmandu (KMD) shares and take a stake in Briscoes (BGR).
The offer is a swap of nine KMD shares for five BGR shares, plus a 20c cash component per share, which was attractive to Australian institutional investors who recently sold Mr Duke their 14.9% stakes, taking the cash and exiting. Mr Kirk was circumspect about commenting on the offer yesterday, highlighting the board would be several weeks away from having to make a recommendation to shareholders.
He said that when Mr Duke's offer was formally presented to shareholders, it would take about a fortnight for KMD's board to access the offer and make a public recommendation to shareholders.
''We have to step back and assess the offer fully . . . so the shareholders are as informed as possible,'' he said.
While there has been no sign of another, separate offer, when asked, Mr Kirk agreed if another bidder came to the market it could potentially make the outcome a ''moving feast'' in the weeks ahead.
Numerous sharebrokers have described Mr Duke's offer as ''opportunistic'', but Mr Kirk sidestepped the description, noting only that BGR's share price was relatively high, while KMD had hit a low.
''Yes, we had a difficult Christmas and summer [sales] and that has fed into the share price,'' he said in an interview in Dunedin yesterday.
Commenting on the decline in share price during the past year, from $3.40 to $1.28 just before the offer, Mr Kirk reiterated a statement earlier this week that there had been no contact with Mr Duke before he announced having taken a 19.9% stake in KMD.
Mr Duke's $1.80 per share offer is based on the weakened share price, but KMD has been addressing the poor trading season, which left it stranded with high stock levels and selling at discounted prices.
Kathmandu remained a ''strong brand, with a great retail footprint'', Mr Kirk said, with 157 shops mainly in New Zealand and Australia, and a new chief executive was now on board.
• Mr Kirk was in Dunedin as chairman of FoodShare, an organisation run by his sister and Dunedin lawyer Deborah Manning, which collects excess perishable food from donor businesses and distributes it to social and community services.
The Golden Centre Mall is hosting a black tie event at the Dunedin Town Hall as a fundraiser for FoodShare, on November 14.
