Seafolly goes for global domination.
Seafolly is set to to sit alongside Colombian beachwear brand Maaji under a new global swimwear venture.
Seafolly Australia parent company L Catterton Asia, a private equity firm backed by luxury powerhouse LVMH, has acquired Maaji in a bid to create a global beachwear conglomerate.
L Catterton Asia will be the controlling shareholder of the combined business, with the founders of both businesses continuing as minority shareholders.
L Catterton Asia chairman Ravi Thakran said this is a gamechanging venture.
“With this unparalleled combination, we look to grow our portfolio and create the largest independent house of beach lifestyle brands.
"The two brands are market leaders from two large, but distinct beach destinations – Australia and Latin America, with each possessing a very unique style and positioning.
"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”.
Seafolly is sold in 41 countries, 32 Seafolly stores and through its own eCommerce platform.
Maaji is sold in more than 54 countries, 12 stand-alone stores across the Americas, as well as numerous partners such as Nordstrom, Revolve, Amazon, Zappos, Neiman Marcus, Anthropologie and Bloomingdales.