The hatmaking brand had been owned by the Keir family since 1918
Dentons has advised the Keir family as the owners of iconic Australian hatmaking brand Akubra on the sale of the brand to Tattarang.
According to 9News.com.au, the divestment was finalised in a multimillion-dollar deal. Since 1918, the ownership of Akubra has passed through five generations of the Keir family.
“We thought long and hard about selling the business after five generations of family ownership and, after we saw how [Tattarang owners] the Forrests have invested in local manufacturing with RM Williams, we decided they were the right custodians for Akubra,” outgoing chairman Stephen Keir IV said in a statement published by 9News.com.au.
He explained that the divestment was largely spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, as per ABC News.
Nicola Forrest said that Tattarang sought to keep Akubra Australian-owned.
“We have got to bring manufacturing back to Australia. It will always be Australian made by Australian hands, and to do that we need to grow the Akubra workforce,” Andrew Forrest said in a statement published by ABC News.
Dentons corporate partner Jill Milburn, who has worked with the Keir family for years and maintains a professional relationship with Akubra’s board members, was tapped to lead the firm’s team on the transaction.
