Brookstone To Merge

MERRIMACK, NH-Specialty retailer Brookstone Inc. said a majority of shareholders have approved the company’s sale to a private consortium headed by OSIM International Ltd., in a move that will allow the Merrimack, NH-based retailer to expand internationally, primarily in Asia.

In addition to OSIM, a Singapore-listed healthy lifestyle product firm, the consortium includes JW Childs Associates, LP, a Boston-based private equity firm, and Temasek Holdings Limited, a Singapore-based investment company.

The merger, announced Friday following a stockholder meeting a day earlier at the Bank of America Conference and Training Center in Boston, has received all necessary regulatory approvals and will be completed once all of the closing conditions have been met, the company said.

“We believe this merger offers great value to our shareholders and a tremendous opportunity for our company going forward,” Brookstone Chairman, President and CEO Michael Anthony said in a statement announcing the agreement. Under terms of the agreement, Brookstone shareholders will receive $20 per share in cash in a deal that values the company at $408.8 million, based on its 20.44 million shares of outstanding common stock.

Anthony said OSIM will be able to develop specialty products that will compliment Brookstone’s high-tech image and will use its expertise at operating stores in Asia to help the firm expand its retail operations globally.

Despite the merger, the company said it plans to keep its senior management team in place and will keep its corporate headquarters in Merrimack, NH, where about 225 people are employed.

The product development and specialty retail company, which in August posted a net loss of $5.7 million for the second quarter, currently operates more than 275 Brookstone branded stores nationally and in Puerto Rico.