Key Announcement FAQs

1. What is being announced?

Five V Capital (Five V) has signed an agreement to become the majority shareholder in Sea to Summit. Five V is a certified B Corporation and is the right partner to make this investment in STS given the firm’s investment experience across omnichannel retail, consumer products, e-commerce, digital marketing, global growth and ESG sustainability.

2. Why are Penny and Roland selling at this time?

As the founders of the business, Roland and Penny are continually focused on successfully growing the Sea to Summit brand around the world. Having spent the past 30+ years building something unique in our market and their decision to allow Five V Capital to invest in the business is an exciting milestone in this journey. Roland and Penny are confident that Five V will be strong custodians of the business and this transition is part of the business’ long-term succession plan to ensure sustainability and continuity. Roland is confident that this partnership is the best way to ensure the Company can continue to innovate, be at the forefront of sustainability and deliver a seamless customer experience that will allow us to thrive in the years to come.

3. How will Five V support STS’s future growth?

a. Five V is excited to play a role in advancing STS’s mission to invent gear that enables freedom and self-reliance in any environment.

b. STS has the potential to benefit from Five V’s knowledge, experience, best practices and apply this to further expand the reach of its products worldwide.

c. With Five V’s support, STS and the management team will look to accelerate the growth of the business, with the objective of building STS into a global brand with sustainability at the core, creating long-term value, and balancing profit with purpose.

4. Who is Five V Capital

Five V, a certified B Corporation, is a private equity and venture capital fund manager based in Sydney with over $1.4 billion of funds under management. The firm invests in businesses that are on the front foot with technology and innovation across a range of industries, with Five V’s unique investment approach is underpinned by a philosophy of alignment, which is reflected in the Five V team being the largest investors across its funds. This alignment between team, investors, partners and management teams is a key component of Five V’s success. Five V Capital’s current portfolio contains several leading businesses including Mantel Group, Automic Group, Penten, Openway Food Co, APP Corporation, Metigy, Cascade, Monson Agencies Australia, Totara Learning, Education Perfect and Plenti.

5. Why is Five V Investing in STS?.

a. Five V invests across a broad range of industries, supporting businesses to build sustainable, market-leading positions in their core markets. Five V is guided by a philosophy of alignment and seeks to invest alongside management teams to drive long-term growth, creating opportunities for all stakeholders. Five V supports businesses ranging from earlier stages, requiring scale-up or growth capital, through to profitable and established businesses with strong track-records of profits and global success.

i. STS’ vision aligns with Five V’s strategy to support business’ to build sustainable value in market-leading businesses

ii. STS is a leading branded category specialist with an omnichannel presence

iii. Large addressable market with strong sector tailwinds aligned to outdoor equipment and customers seeking to increasingly connect with the environment

iv. Significant, multi-dimensional growth opportunities aligned to Five V’s strengths in sales channel expansion, global scaling, digital marketing, e-commerce and a focus on sustainability to support the company’s global expansion

v. Five V believes it is important for global citizens to have access to high quality, ethically sourced & manufactured equipment when they choose to connect with the environment

6. The release says Five V is acquiring a majority stake – what size stake is Five V acquiring? From Who?

We are not disclosing specific stake sizes. However, Five V will be the majority owner and Roland Tyson will continue to be a shareholder alongside Five V, and continue to advise the company on product design and marketing as a Director on the Board.

7. How much is Five V Investing?

We are not disclosing Five V’s investment size.

8. At what price does this value the company?

We are not disclosing STS’s value.

9. What size and stake do Co-Founders Roland Tyson and Penny Sanderson hold?

We are not commenting on the specific stake sizes of the various shareholders.

10. How has STS performed recently, and what are its forecasts?

STS has grown strongly for many years, however we are not commenting on STS’ performance but given the opportunity in the market for technical outdoor equipment we are excited about STS’s growth prospects.

11. Will STS be rebranded at all?

No, it will continue its business as STS.

12. Will Sea to Summit become a B-Corporation?

Five V’s intention is to support its portfolio companies with ESG initiatives. While Five V will not impose anything upon its portfolio companies, if STS choses to pursue B-Corp certification they would be supportive.

13. Will the brand remain headquartered in Perth & Boulder?

Yes, the Sea to Summit global headquarters will remain in Perth with global offices in Boulder, Germany and China.

14. Will the deal impact customers/retailers/distributors?

There will be no impact on our existing relationships with our customers, retailers, and distributors around the world. The integration of STS into the Five V portfolio means a seamless transition for our key business stakeholders.

15. Are customers going to notice any major changes to the brand/products/markets of availability?

Through our partnership with Five V Capital, we have ambitions to rapidly accelerate our brand growth both domestically and globally. We anticipate that through the expertise of Five V Capital we will be able to improve our product offering and engage more customers in the immediate and long-term future. We believe customers will continue to see the benefits of this partnership over the coming years, with a significant and sustained investment in the business expected to be made.

16. Do you have any exciting new product launches coming up?

Yes, we have completely renovated our dry storage category for Spring 2023 and we’ve expanded our tent line in 2023.