The announcement by Volcom, Inc. that its board of directors agreed to a merger acquisition of Volcom, Inc. by PPR prompted an investigation on behalf of investors of Volcom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VLCM) over possible breaches of fiduciary duty was announced.

The investigation by a law firm concerns whether certain directors and officers at Volcom or others breached their fiduciary duties in connection the proposed merger.

On Monday, May 2, 2011, PPR (FR 0000121485, PRTP.PA, PPFP) and Volcom, Inc. (NASDAQ: VLCM) announced that they have signed an merger agreement whereby a new wholly owned subsidiary of PPR will make a cash tender offer to acquire 100% of the shares of Volcom for a price of $24.50 share, for a total equity value of $607.5 million and an enterprise value of $516.1 million.
Volcom, Inc said the offer represents a 37% premium over the three-month average trading price of Volcom shares.

Indeed, following the merger proposal shares of Volcom, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:VLCM) rose from $19.71 on Friday to $24.45 per share on Monday, May 2, 2010.

However, Volcom, Inc. performed well for its investors in the past. As recent as February 24, 2011, Volcom announced its financial results for the 2010 fourth quarter and full year wherein Volcom reported total consolidated revenues increased 22.4% for the fourth quarter of 2010 and full-year consolidated revenue grew 15.2%. Volcom also reported over the past four annual filing periods relatively consistent 12months Total Revenues ranging from $268.61million to $323.18million. Its Net Income ranged over the same time frame from $21.71million to $33.34million. Additionally at least one analyst has set a price target of $25.00 per share for Volcom stock.

Therefore the investigation concerns whether the Volcom Board of Directors undertook an adequate and fair sales process to obtain fair consideration for all shareholders of Volcom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VLCM) and breached their fiduciary duties to Volcom (VLCM) shareholder by failing to adequately shop the Company before entering into any transaction.

Volcom, Inc also said that certain Volcom directors and officers, who collectively own 14.4% of the outstanding shares, have already agreed to tender all of their shares in the tender offer.

The investigation concerns also whether by PPR would underpay for NASDAQ:VLCM shares, thus unlawfully harming Volcom stockholders. A potential class action lawsuit would seek to maximize the amount of money and information Volcom (NASDAQ:VLCM) shareholders would receive in a buyout, so the law firm.