Owndays may be sold, fetching US$300 million

L Catterton Asia Advisors, the Asian arm of the namesake consumer-focused buyout firm, is exploring a sale of Japanese eyewear retailer Owndays Inc., people with knowledge of the matter said.

L Catterton Asia has invited investment banks to submit proposals and will soon pick an adviser, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. The private equity firm is considering divesting the asset with its partner Mitsui & Co. in a sale that could fetch about $300 million, the people said.

Established in 1989, Tokyo-based Owndays designs and manufactures optical eyewear glasses and runs 156 stores across Japan, its website shows. It has another 206 stores abroad at locations including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Australia. The company had 2,200 employees as of last February.

In 2018, L Catterton Asia teamed up with Mitsui and its subsidiary to invest in Owndays for an undisclosed sum, according to a press release at the time.

Deliberations on the sale of Owndays are at an early stage, while L Catterton and its partners could decide to keep the business, the people said. Representatives for L Catterton Asia and Owndays declined to comment, while a representative for Mitsui said the company hasn’t acknowledged details on the sale of Owndays at this moment.