L Catterton Asia has announced the creation of the leading global swimwear and beach lifestyle platform, uniting market leaders from two distinct beach destinations, Australia and Latin America. This unique house of brands is formed through a combination of existing portfolio company and number one swimwear brand in Australia Seafolly, with leading Colombian brand Maaji, with the goal of preserving each brand’s DNA and heritage while enabling the brands to enhance their global growth.
Seafolly and Maaji plan to expand their markets and grow existing and new swimwear and beach lifestyle product categories such as active-wear, resort-wear and accessories. L Catterton Asia will be the controlling shareholder of the combined business, with the founders of both businesses continuing as minority shareholders. This industry-defining move is the first step in the aggregation of the fragmented swimwear/beach wear industry, made possible in large part by leveraging the global footprint of the L Catterton platform.
Commenting on the transaction, Chairman and Managing Partner of L Catterton Asia, Ravi Thakran, stated: “When we invested in Seafolly we had at that stage envisaged a roll-up strategy to aggregate a portfolio of high quality beachwear brands in a market segment that is large, growing, but highly fragmented. This combination will bring many synergies to the fold, including geographic expansion, retail roll-out and product sourcing. This combination also allows us to play on our strengths as being part of the world’s largest consumer focused private equity firm as we were able to effectively look at a combination of businesses from two very different geographies with the support of our Latin America team.”
Founder of Seafolly, Anthony Halas stated: “Seafolly is currently a leader in swimwear and beach lifestyle, offering innovative designs and unparalleled fit. Coupled with Maaji and bringing together our target markets and value propositions, this merger will create a unique and powerful offering on the global landscape. With the backing of L Catterton Asia, we will gain access to their ability to source supplies, improve product distribution and enhance retail channels.”
L Catterton, formed in 2016 through the partnership of Catterton, LVMH and Groupe Arnault, is the largest consumer-focused private equity firm in the world, operating six distinct fund strategies out of seventeen offices located across five continents. L Catterton Asia’s investments include: Trendy International, Charles & Keith, Pepe Jeans Group, Crystal Jade, Celavi and YG Entertainment, which is behind famous Korean singers and entertainers such as PSY, Big Bang and 2NE1.
