Brazilian Footwear Company Alpargatas Acquires Stake In Rothy’s

Brazilian footwear company, Alpargatas, is set to acquire a 49.9% stake in sustainable lifestyle brand, Rothy’s, to fuel its global growth and expand its vertically-integrated operations.

The strategic investment in Rothy’s aims to better position Alpargatas as a global powerhouse of desired and hyperconnected brands while also helping Rothy’s accelerate its brand and retail expansion efforts, boost its factory operations, and further develop drive its sustainability-focused initiatives.

“We founded Rothy’s with the belief that there’s a better way to do business, and it starts by putting the planet and its people first. In less than a decade, we’ve transformed our two-person passion project into a successful, sustainable and deeply innovative company — and redefined the shoe category,” said Stephen Hawthornthwaite, co-founder and CEO of Rothy’s.

“This partnership with Alpargatas marks the beginning of our next chapter of growth, and reaffirms the strength of our business model and momentum in the marketplace. With Alpargatas’ financial support, scale and expertise, we look forward to rapidly expanding in global markets, building our physical retail presence, advancing product development and accelerating our goal to reach circular production by 2023.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Alpargatas will acquire a stake in Rothy’s in a two-step transaction. First, the company will invest $200 million in primary capital. It will then acquire approximately $275 million worth of Rothy’s shares from current stockholders, resulting in a post-investment valuation equating to $1 billion.

Rothy’s co-founders, Stephen Hawthornthwaite and Roth Martin, will maintain a significant equity stake in the business and will continue to oversee operations.

The agreement provides Alpargatas with a call option to acquire additional Rothy’s shares from selling stockholders between the initial transaction’s first and fourth anniversary.

Originally published at https://retailbum.com on December 22, 2021.