KMD Brands has responded to media reports that suggest a host of buyers are circling and hoping to snap up a piece of the company.
National publication The Australian shared yesterday that KMD Brands – which owns Rip Curl, Kathmandu and Oboz Footwear – is receiving indicative offers that include buying the whole business and individual brand assets. Sources close to the situation, the media outlet added, are claiming a sale in some form is becoming increasingly difficult for the board to avoid.
On top of this, the media report also shared that billionaire Brett Blundy is believed to be one of those buyers. Ragtrader reached out to Blundy's investment company, BBRC, for comment.
A KMD Brands spokesperson told Ragtrader that the company will not comment on “highly speculative” media commentary.
“As we’ve stated, our business review is on track to conclude by the announcement of the FY26 Annual Results on 23 September 2026,” the spokesperson said.
This buyer interest comes as KMD Brands attempts to rightsize as business pressures mount across the industry. The company fielded and quickly rejected one unsolicited offer from US surfwear company Stokehouse Unlimited to demerge its Rip Curl business.
The report by The Australian this week indicated Rip Curl is of most interest to buyers.
On top of this, KMD had completed a debt refinance, amounting to NZ$208 million, earlier this year, and finalised a NZ$65 million capital raise on a hefty discount.
Rip Curl appears to be struggling more than Kathmandu over the last financial year, with the surfing retailer reporting a 2.8 per cent same-store sales slip in the second half, while its sister subsidiary Kathmandu saw a same-store growth of 4.8 per cent.
Across the group, KMD shared that full-year group sales for FY26 are set to land between NZ$1.04 billion and NZ$1.044 billion – up 5 per cent at midpoint on FY25.
“Kathmandu sales continue to improve year on year relative to Q4 FY25, led by a strong performance in the rainwear, fleece and base layer categories,” KMD shared in its trading update this week.
“Despite year-to-date growth, the insulation category has been impacted during the winter sale period by weaker consumer demand associated with unseasonally warm weather on the east coast of Australia.”