HanesBrands makes $1.1bn offer for socks and jocks maker Pacific Brands

Pacific Brands chairman Peter Bush has predicted a new growth era for the embattled socks and jocks supplier if a $1.1 billion takeover by the world's largest intimate apparel company HanesBrands is given the tick of approval by shareholders.

HanesBrands – the owner of WonderBra and Hanes Beefy Ts – believes it can almost double Pacific Brands' earnings within three years by shifting production from contract manufacturers to its own factories in Asia, boosting sales of Bonds and Sheridan through retail stores and possibly taking some of PacBrands' smaller labels into new markets overseas.