Kathmandu completes Rip Curl purchase, announces senior management changes

By

Gabriella Lacombe

Published
Nov 6, 2019

Outdoor apparel and equipment retailer Kathmandu Holdings Limited has completed its acquisition of global surf brand Rip Curl as of October 31, and has made a series of senior management changes to accommodate the new business.  

As a result of the Rip Curl purchase, made for an amount of A$350 million ($236.22 million) and which was first announced in October, the company said it has made the following changes to the scope of the senior management roles within the Kathmandu and Rip Curl combined group:

Xavier Simonet will continue as the group chief executive officer of Kathmandu Holdings Limited, now including the Rip Curl business; Chris Kinraid will continue as the group chief financial officer, now including oversight of the Rip Curl business; and Reuben Casey, currently chief operating officer, has been appointed to the role of chief executive officer of the Kathmandu business. Finally, Michael Daly will continue as chief executive officer of the Rip Curl business.

Kathmandu,intends to leverage the surf brand to help diversify its product offerings and expand its geographic footprint to Europe and North America. Currently, Kathmandu operates stores in New Zealand, Australia and Britain, while Rip Curl is present across Australia, New Zealand, North America, Europe, South East Asia and Brazil, offering surfing-related products like wetsuits, board shorts and other surf accessories.

Casey, Kinraid and Daly will report to Simonet as the group chief executive officer. 

“[Casey] has been a key contributor to the success of Kathmandu over the last few years,” said Simonet. “I congratulate him on his promotion and I wish him all the very best success as chief executive officer of Kathmandu.”

The company said it has determined that Simonet and Kinraid are the ‘senior managers’ of the company, as defined in the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2014.