Homegrown swimwear brand Seafolly has been sold by its private equity owner, US retail specialist L Catterton, to an Asian strategic buyer in a deal valuing the famous label at about $70 million.
Despite the tough market for retail, the sale marks the second struck this week for an Australian brand, after Bondi Sands was traded by its founders for $450 million to Japan’s Kao Corporation on Tuesday.
Seafolly has been sold in a tough trading environment for discretionary retail.
Seafolly’s buyer is understood to be an entity called Bondi Brands Group, which was created in June, according to documents obtained from the Hong Kong Companies Registry. The key founder is apparel manufacturer Vision Brands Group, but there are other offshore shareholders attached to Bondi Brands.
The deal completes a four-month sale process led by FTI Consulting which attracted international strategic players and local family offices.
L Catterton declined to comment on its exit from Seafolly, which was founded in 1975 by Peter Halas. The label remained a family business until 2014, when the Halases sold a 70 per cent stake for about $70 million to L Capital Asia, the private equity arm of luxury goods giant LVMH.

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform.