I just caught this story on Rag Trader talking about Billabong’s latest purchase. The guys on the Gold Coast have taken SDS and Jetty Surf from the General Pants Group. There’s no word on the purchase price but it bring the number of Billabong owned retail outlets to 558 worldwide. As mentioned previously, CEO Derek O’Neill said the deal ensures that Billabong’s portfolio of brands have the ability to drop new, limited and unique products mid-season. Check out more on the deal over here.

(Via Empire Ave’s Twitter – you should follow them too!)