Sisters sell Trilogy 'baby' for $20m

Two sisters who built a luxury skincare company from basic beginnings in an Upper Hutt shed into an award-winning organic products business have sold their "baby" for up to $20 million.

Trilogy is a Wellington company that sells its "affordable luxury" in thousands of stores around the world, including Harrods in London.

It has come a long way from its small Trentham office, which sisters Sarah Gibbs and Catherine de Groot were given free use of by their brother.

In a deal announced to the stock exchange late yesterday, Ecoya, founded by Geoff Ross and Grant Baker, the creators of 42 Below vodka, snapped up the fast-growing company. There is an upfront payment of $10m, and another possible $10m next year, half in cash and half in Ecoya shares. Ecoya produces fragrance and bodycare products.

The fortune is a far cry from the sisters' formative years.

Their father turned their first office into an "open plan" space with a chainsaw. "It was all very un-Trilogy," Mrs Gibbs said. "We didn't invite anyone there; no-one even knew we were there."

Despite their first basic surroundings, the sisters were determined to build a business based on their belief in the benefits of rosehip oil for skin, and an expectation that demand for organic products would escalate.

"There was organic yoghurt and other things beginning to appear on the shelves of supermarkets ... and we had an inkling that it would transfer into skincare, and there wasn't much competition in that space at the time," Mrs Gibbs said.

It has been eight years of hard graft for the sisters, who are pleased the company is in good hands. "It feels really good," Mrs de Groot said. "We are like parents. It is our baby so we weren't going to just adopt it out to anyone."

Trilogy has been ranked among New Zealand's 50 fastest-growing companies three years running, with sales expected to top $10m this year, more than half of that coming from overseas.

The company also won the supreme award at the Wellington Gold Awards in May.

42 Below co-founder Geoff Ross plans to expand Trilogy into the United States and Middle East markets. And he hopes the enthusiastic sisters stay involved in the company.

"It's a lot of fun," Mrs Gibbs said. "It shouldn't be under-estimated how much fun it is."

- © Fairfax NZ News