Australian casual youth apparel retailer General Pants Co has been bought by Alquemie Group, the retail investment platform of private-equity company Acta Capital. 

General Pants Co CEO Sacha Laing will take on the role of group CEO at Alquemie and current shareholders including Victor Smorgon Group, Phil Staub and Jackie Vidor, have agreed to reinvest “a significant portion of their proceeds” into Alquemie, the company said in a statement. Laing has previously held leadership roles at Colette, Country Road Group and David Jones. 

Founded in 1972, General Pants Co sells brands including Lee, Subtitled, Ksubi, and Tommy Jeans through a network of 60 stores across Australia and New Zealand. The company will join Lego Certified Stores, Ginger & Smart, SurfStitch and Pumpkin Patch in Alquemie’s rapidly growing portfolio, with further acquisitions planned. 

Acta Capital founder and CEO Richard Facioni said the acquisition gives Alquemie “significant scale and breadth of operations” as it seeks to partner with “exceptional, like-minded management teams to build great businesses”.

“General Pants Co is highly complementary to our existing portfolio and positions Alquemie for continued growth as we build a leading multi-channel retail investment business,” he said in a statement. 

Laing described it as a privilege to join Alquemie at a pivotal time and said she was looking forward to working closely with Facioni.