Olga Berg is off to the races. Street Talk understands the handbag and headpiece designer has adviser FTI Consulting courting potential strategic buyers for the 30-year-plus brand.
Kelly Lippman, owner and creative director of Olga Berg. Arsineh Houspian.
A sale flyer, obtained by Street Talk, pitched the company as Australia’s number one evening bag brand in department stores David Jones and Myer. The brand is largely focused on wholesale customers and distributes via Nordstrom and Anthropologie in the United States and online fashion retailers The Iconic and Revolve.
Potential investors were told Olga Berg has 220 global wholesale accounts globally and made $5.8 million at the revenue line in financial year 2023, a 45 per cent jump on the previous year. EBITDA came in a $1.4 million in FY23, up 53 per cent, and the company is debt-free.
The bag maker is targeting $10 million plus revenue and $3.4 million EBITDA by FY26, looking to strategic partnerships and expanding its online presence for growth. It forecasts more than of its revenue will come from wholesale distribution in the US and Europe, with the remainder from Australian wholesale and online sales.
Olga Berg was founded in 1987 by Polish immigrant Olga Gartenberg. Kelly Lippman is the creative director and her husband Mark Lippman, the son of the founder, serves as managing director.
The brand specialises in affordable evening and special occasion bags, clutches and headpieces. Its current bags range stretches from $70 to $180 with sales items going around the $55 mark.
The sale is being overseen by FTI’s Ben Shrimpton, who was also seen on the sale of homegrown swimwear brand Seafolly to an Asian buyer in August.
Australian retailers have been changing hands at chunky valuations this year, even as higher interest rates push consumer sentiment lower. Japan’s Kao Corp snapped up Bondi Sands for $450 million, Zimmerman was valued at a whopping $1.5 billion by Advent International and Aesop was sold to L’Oreal in a record $3.7 billion deal.
On the smaller retailer side, Crescent Capital’s swimwear business Tigerlily has hit the market while Retail Apparel Group, owned by Johannesburg-listed The Foschini Group, expressed interest in acquiring the Politix brand from Country Road Group – although no deal eventuated.
Meanwhile, WM Ritchie, the women’s footwear retailer behind the Jane Debster and Sandler brands among others, has hired KPMG to help find a deep-pocketed capital partner to turbocharge its growth.
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