Greenlit Brands, the former owner of Best & Less, Postie (NZ) and Debenhams Australia, has made its final divestment this year, offloading Fantastic Furniture to Australian private equity fund Allegro Funds.
This comes eights year after Greenlit underwent a major restructuring, changing its name from Steinhoff International to Greenlit Brands. A year later, in 2019, the company divested its general merchandise division to Allegro Funds, including Best & Less, Harris Scarfe, Debenhams Australia and Postie.
Since then, the company continued to sell off the rest of its portfolio, including Plush sofas in 2021, Original Mattress Factory in 2022, Snooze and associated operations in 2023, and Freedom Furniture in 2025.
Greenlit Brands non-executive chair Michael Ford said he and the team are pleased with this outcome for the Fantastic Furniture business and its staff as they are joining a group with a strong track record in building and enhancing retail businesses that are already successful.
“We know from experience that this unlocks new opportunities for the people in the business, which has been an overriding priority of ours during the Greenlit Brands divestment program of the past eight years,” Ford said. “We have been careful and methodical throughout this period to identify the right new owners for all our former businesses, so that they can grow to the next stage of their development.
“It has been an immense privilege for Greenlit Brands to be an owner of iconic Australian retail groups over the past decade or so, and we are particularly proud of navigating the businesses through the Covid era and group debt challenges. We wish everyone working in and associated with our former businesses the very best for the future.”
Allegro Funds partner Fay Bou said Fantastic Furniture has been in operation for more than 35 years, and houses a network of 86 stores and over 1,000 employees.
“We see immense potential in Fantastic's strong value positioning and its market-leading omni-channel platform. We are delighted to bring this highly successful Australian business back into Australian ownership at Allegro.”
After it was taken on by Allegro in 2019, the private equity firm listed the business in 2021, and was subsequently acquired through a shareholder takeover by Brett Blundy and Ray Itaoui in 2023. Best & Less is now privately owned by both.
Postie is still owned by Allegro, while Debenhams Australia wrapped up operations locally after falling into administration in the United Kingdom in 2020.
Greenlit Brands was advised by Jarden, MinterEllison, Alvarez & Marsal and PwC.