Iconic Australian surfwear brand Billabong will move offshore by May after shareholders gave the go-ahead to sell to California-based Quicksilver.

Boardriders, which owns Quicksilver and Roxy, made a $208 million bid for the company in January.

94.45% of shareholders voted yes for the acquisition.

Ross Greenwood speaks with Scott Phillips from Motley Fool, who says the vote was likely to go sour.

“The company was likely to vote against the takeover by Quicksilver, [but] they sweetened the deal at the last minute.”

He tells Ross a whole lot of  “corporation shenanigans” took place in an attempt in an attempt to “keep the thing alive”.

He also says while shareholders mightn’t get their money back, this is probably a welcome takeover.

Listen to the full interview below

Ross also speaks with Phil Jarratt, renowned surfing journalist and author of Salt and Suits and Life of Brine.

“These were the two arch-rivals.”

He put the takeover down to the diminishing presence of surfwear in the fashion industry.

“If you look across the board, the market for surfwear has diminished.

“It’s not the cool segment of fashion it once was.

“If you look back 15 years ago, surf was still a really strong fashion element.

“These days, it’s kind of dropped back a little bit.”

Listen to Ross’ interview with Phil below