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This article is from the National Business Review. Click here for the original article.
Original Article Date: December 10, 2025
Clothing company AS Colour, which was founded in an Auckland garage in 2005 by Lawrence Railton, has accepted Australian private equity firm Quadrant onto its cap table and revealed it rakes in annual sales of about $500 million.
Quadrant is acquiring its stake from Direct Capital, which has backed AS Colour since 2017. Direct Capital will retain a smaller ongoing shareholding following the transaction.
The parties did not mention details of the transaction but the AFR reported that Quadrant's Strategic Equity Fund has acquired a 21% stake, with Direct retaining 7%.
The company operates six distribution centres and 27 retail sites across Australia and New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe. It is still headquartered in New Zealand, and its CEO is former Les Mills International boss Clive Ormerod.
"New Zealand remains our home and spiritual heart with most of our customers now in international markets," Ormerod said in a statement accompanying the Quadrant announcement.
"Partnering with Quadrant gives us additional strategic capability to keep strengthening our brand across Australia and New Zealand, and to accelerate our international expansion in markets such as the US, UK and Europe. This is a strong endorsement of the team and strategy we have been executing."
The statement said AS Colour is "gaining share in the fast-growing premium segment of the US$12 billion global blank apparel market".
Quadrant partners Louis Casey and Marcus Darville noted the business had built an "exceptional" brand in New Zealand and Australia and was now scaling rapidly in the US, UK and Europe.
"What sets AS Colour apart is the combination of premium product quality, a direct B2B sales model, a highly efficient supply chain, and – most importantly – an outstanding team and culture that is genuinely passionate about what they do. We see a significant global runway ahead."
Quadrant's Strategic Equity Fund specialises in partnering with high-growth companies through minority stakes and has led more than A$1b of investments across five companies: AS Colour, Canva, APM, EMM, and Endgame Analytics.
Direct Capital partner Chris Wills said his firm was delighted to continue its involvement with AS Colour, and looked forward to working with Quadrant "as a like-minded partner supporting the company's strong global growth".
Jarden, led by Sam Ricketts, and Gilbert & Tobin, led by Alex Kauye, acted as advisers to Quadrant. Direct Capital was advised by Allier Capital, led by Sean Slater.