👉 Background: Tigerlily was founded in 2000 and became one of the leaders in the swimwear space. They were producing sustainable swimwear with bright-coloured patterns.

👉 What happened: Since it was founded, Tigerlily has been through its fair share of owners:

• It was sold by its founder to Billabong in 2007.
• It was sold to a private equity investor in 2017.
• It fell into administration in 2020.

Tigerlily rebranded and came back to life, only to now fall into voluntary administration once again.

👉 What else: This time, it seems like it's all over red rover and a big fat failure for the private equity firm Crescent Capital.

What's the key learning?

💡Private equity firms are constantly navigating the tightrope between high risk and bigger rewards.

💡These private equity firms, like Crescent Capital, will invest in brands like Tigerlily with the aim of turning them around and then selling them for a juicy profit. This would often involve injecting capital, streamlining operations, and sometimes rebranding to increase the brand's value. However, like this case, it isn't always successful.

💡But when it works, it pays off big time.Take Allegro Funds, which acquired Pizza Hut Australia, which was heading towards administration. In a few short years, they almost doubled its sales and sold it on for a very tasty profit.

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