Takealot Group has sold its online fashion business Superbalist to a private equity consortium, the e-commerce group said on Monday.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“As of 1 September 2024, Superbalist has been acquired by a South African consortium of retail and private equity investors, led by Blank Canvas Capital,” Naspers-owned Takealot said in a media statement.

“This strategic acquisition will support Superbalist’s ongoing growth, allowing Takealot Group to dedicate its efforts to further expanding Takealot and Mr D,” it added.

“We extend our best wishes to the Superbalist team as they embark on this new chapter in their journey. Throughout the transition period, Superbalist services will continue to operate without interruption, ensuring customers experience no disruptions.”

Takealot said it will continue to provide warehousing and logistics services to Superbalist after the parties signed a multi-year service agreement.

The lead investor in the consortium that’s buying Superbalist is Black Canvas Capital, a company whose partners are Neil Freeman, JD de Villiers and Darren Roy. Black Canvas’s other investments include The Courier Guy and Vantage Data Centers.

Struggled

Superbalist, which was founded as CityMob in 2010 by Luke Jedeikin, Claude Hanan and Daniel Solomon, has struggled as competition has mounted from Chinese fast-fashion retailer Shein. (Jedeikin and Hanan subsequently went on to found online fashion retailer Bash in The Foschini Group stable.)