Growth capital firm ACTA Capital has acquired major youth apparel retail chain General Pants in a $60 million plus transaction that will add the long-established business to its retail investment platform, Alquemie Group.

Other retail brands owned by Alquemie include LEGO Certified Stores, surfwear-anchored youth fashion chain SurfStitch, women’s designer fashion business Ginger & Smart and babies and toddlers fashion chain Pumpkin Patch.

The SurfStich business is to be combined with General Pants.

The vendors of General Pants were the Victor Smorgon Group family office and the late Victor Smorgon’s granddaughter Jackie Vidor and her husband Philip Staub. Each party held a 50% stake in the business. They had held the business since acquiring it from the founders in 1995.

Vidor and Staub are, however, retaining the denim fashion label Ksubi which is one of the brands retailed through General Pants.

The sale of General Pants involves the vendors reinvesting a substantial part of their proceeds in Alquemie for a 20% stake. This will give them a board seat.

ACTA Capital founder and chief executive Richard Facioni said: “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.

“General Pants 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.”

Facioni said he was equally excited to announce that General Pants chief executive Sacha Laing had agreed to take on the role of group chief executive of Alquemie. Laing has previously held senior retail leadership positions with Colette, Country Road Group and David Jones.

Founded in 1972, General Pants currently operates 60 physical stores in Australia and New Zealand and has a growing e-commerce business.

General Pants was forced to suspend physical store trading during COVID-19 lockdowns but still generated about $130 million in revenue over the 2020-2021 financial year. The business has rebounded strongly this calendar year with March quarter sales more than 10% up on the prior year.

Debt funding for the transaction has been provided by CBA.

ACTA Capital and Alquemie received financial advice from GreenMount Advisory and legal advice from Hamilton Locke. General Pants and its vendors were advised by Monash Advisory and Danaher Moulton.

Image: Alquemie’s new chief executive Sacha Laing with ACTA Capital founder Richard Facioni.