Exceed Company Ltd.’s board of directors rescheduled an extrordinary shareholders meeting to consider a merger proposal from its chairman and CEO's after he agreed to deposit $15 million in earnest money by mid-July.


Chairman and CEO Shuipan Lin proposed buying Exceed, which owns one of China's largest domestic athletic brands, in December, 2013, but has since asked twice for more time to arrange financing. On June 3, 2014, the board had announced Lin anticipated needing until June 20 to raise the financing and that two of the rollover shareholders named in the proxy statement had agreed to invest an aggregate of $5 million in the parent in order to fund a portion of the transaction consideration.


On Friday, the  board disclosed that Lin has provided the company with the following additional updates:


  • $5 million will be deposited in the Parent's account outside of the People's Republic of China on or about June 27, 2014; 
  • an additional $5 million will be deposited in the Parent's account outside of the People's Republic of China on or about July 2, 2014; and 
  • the remaining approximately S$5 million of the contemplated financing is expected to be available by mid-July.

Lin has also agreed to deliver an irrevocable undertaking to the bank to the effect that any cash deposits made cannot be withdrawn except with the consent of Exceed.



On Friday, Exceed’s board said it has rescheduled an extraordinary shareholders meeting adjourned April 16, to resume July 29, 2014 at 10:00 am in Hong Kong to again consider Lin’s proposal.


 

Exceed owns the Xidelong athletic brand, which designs and manufactures footwear, apparel and accessories and markets them in second and third-tier cities in China. The company is among several domestic Chinese sportswear companies that expanded dramatically leading up to the 2008 Summer Olympics only to later close down thousands of retail outlets amid a glut of product.

 

 

Exceed reported sales of $269.2 million in 2013, down 50 percent from  their peak in 2011. It has three principal categories of products: (i) footwear, which comprises running, leisure, basketball, skateboarding and canvas footwear, (ii) apparel, which mainly comprises sports tops, pants, jackets, track suits and coats, and (iii) accessories, which mainly comprise bags, socks, hats and caps.