$288m netted in Icebreaker US sale

The sale of merino wool clothing company Icebreaker has netted its former owners $288 million.

In November, United States retail firm VF Corporation, owner of The North Face, Vans and Wrangler brands, announced it was buying Icebreaker for an undisclosed sum.

Yesterday, the Overseas Investment Office publicly released its decision, which granted consent for the deal to go ahead. It also disclosed the sale price of $288m.

The decision says the office was satisfied that the individuals who will control the investment have the ‘‘relevant experience and acumen and are of good character’’.

VF also showed it had financial commitment to the investment, the decision said.

In November, Icebreaker chairman Rob Fyfe said the company considered more than 24 serious offers to buy it before doing a deal with VF, which is based in North Carolina.

Fyfe said VF was chosen because it could lift the brand’s worth to $1 billion by entering new markets that Icebreaker had not yet been successful in, such as the United States, Asia and eastern Europe.

VF was committed to keeping Icebreaker’s headquarters in New Zealand and the sale would not affect its 340 full-time staff, 30 per cent of whom were based in New Zealand, he said.

Fyfe said the sale was not a loss, but a global opportunity gained for a New Zealand company.

Icebreaker was founded by Jeremy Moon in 1995 when he was 24 years old.

Moon and Fyfe will continue to work for the company.

Exit Strategist director Ross Peden said New Zealand brands selling to multinationals was ‘‘a little sad’’ but Icebreaker’s ‘‘amazing story’’ could encourage other business owners to think about their exit strategy early.

The company has 30 stores and nine outlets across New Zealand, Australia, Europe, the US and Canada.