General Pants Co. Acquired by Alquemie Group

Alquemie Group currently houses retail brands including Surfstitch, Pumplin Patch, Ginger & Smart and LEGO certified stores.

As part of this acquisition, the current owners of General Pants – including Victor Smorgon Group, Phil Staub and Jackie Vidor – will reinvest a ‘significant’ portion of their process into Alquemie Group.

Furthermore, Sacha Laing, current CEO of General Pants Co., has been appointed as Group CEO for Alquemie Group. Laing has formerly worked in senior retail roles at Colette, Country Road Group and David Jones.

“Alquemie Group has a strong, well-diversified portfolio of retail brands and strong forward growth ambitions. It’s a privilege to join the business at this pivotal time and I look forward to working closely with Richard,” said Laing of the new appointment.

Of the acquisition, Richard Facioni, Founder and CEO of ACTA Capital, and Executive Chairman of Alquemie Group, shared his excitement about the acquisition. “This acquisition brings Alquemie significant scale and breadth of operations as we seek to partner with exceptional, like-minded management teams to build great businesses,” he said.

“General Pants Co. is highly complementary to our existing portfolio and positions Alquemie for continued growth as we build a leading multi-channel retail investment business. “I’m excited that the current owners of General Pants Co. have agreed to become shareholders in Alquemie, a testament to their conviction in the strength of the Group as an investment,” he continued.

The acquisition amount was not disclosed. However, funding for the transaction, in addition to the reinvestment by vendors, comprised an acquisition debt facility provided by CBA and an investment fund, raised by ACTA.

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