Article by Sarah Thompson courtesy of the Australian Financial Review.
Propel, the fashion group behind Driza-Bone and Rossi Boots, is set to be sold to resources billionaire Gina Rinehart in a deal to be announced as early as this weekend.
Sources close to discussions between the two parties said Lempriere Wells, the Melbourne boutique investment bank that specialises in consumer brands and is run by William Lempriere and Alice Wells, was close to completing the transaction and had started to inform key staff at both brands.
The Australian Financial Review‘s Street Talk column reported last month that Rinehart and Propel, which is chaired by Will Lempriere, had been working toward a deal. At the time, however, the two parties remained in negotiations. The business is loss-making and despite Lempriere-Wells’ recent stewardship, has failed to take off. Lempriere has quietly marketed the company for some time, first placing it on the market in 2018.
Rinehart’s acquisition would be a novel one for the billionaire.
While she has expanded her empire out of iron ore and into agriculture and other resources, Rinehart has so far avoided buying into any consumer brand. Another West Australian iron ore magnate, Andrew Forrest, late last month acquired Akubra, the 147-year-old Australian hat company for an undisclosed sum. That purchase was made through Tattarang, Dr Forrest and Nicola Forrest’s private investment arm.
Tattarang already had several other fashion investments. In 2020, the Forrests acquired R.M. Williams from L Catterton in a deal worth $190 million. Earlier this year, Tattarang took a 25 per cent stake in Camilla, which manufactures and sells caftans.
Tattarang purchased Akubra company from the Keir family, which owned it since 1918, when ownership was transferred from its founder, Benjamin Dunkerley.
Heritage brands
Driza-Bone, with a history stretching back to 1898, was acquired by the British motorcycle clothing company Belstaff in the late 1980s but then went through more ownership changes before the Lempriere family, which has strong interests in the wool industry, bought it well over a decade ago. Driza-Bone was later merged with RB Sellars, a rural clothing business founded by Richard Sellars-Jones, to become Propel Group.
The manufacturing assets of fellow heritage brand Rossi Boots were bought by Propel Group in April 2020, following Propel’s earlier purchase of Rossi’s IP and business assets. Rossi’s history dates back to 1908. It’s best known for its iconic combat boots, designed for soldiers in World War I and which led to a decades-long partnership with the Australian Defence Force.
The sale would cap off a busy year for transactions in consumer brands. In April, Melbourne’s Aesop was offloaded by its Brazilian parent, Natura & Co, to global giant L’Oreal in a deal that valued the skincare and beauty company at $US2.53 billion ($3.7 billion). Advent International snapped up a majority stake in Zimmerman in a transaction valuing the fashion brand at as much as $1.75 billion.
