Wet & Forget sold: New Zealand homecare product company sold to private equity firm Direct Capital in massive commercial deal

Rod Jenden, founder of Wet & Forget, at the company's factory in Silverdale. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Its Kiwi-made products are famous, as are its radio jingle and marketing campaigns. Now the Wet & Forget firm has been sold in a massive, multimillion-dollar commercial deal with a New Zealand private equity firm. Not bad for a company owner who grew up in a state house and left school at 15.

One of New Zealand’s best-known and biggest home-grown consumer brands has been sold in a massive, multimillion-dollar commercial deal.

Wet & Forget - famous for its range of homecare products and its “You got moss? You got mould?” radio and TV advertising jingles and other ads - has been sold by Rod Jenden and his wife Leigh to New Zealand’s largest private equity firm, Direct Capital.

Jenden - who’s spent the best part of five decades perfecting the art of homecare products, including the establishment of the Wet & Forget firm in the mid-1990s - is still processing the sale, for himself, Leigh and their staff.

It is, he says, a strange feeling - “weird” - and he and Leigh are yet to celebrate a life-changing transaction deal.

While no one is revealing any specific numbers, close observers say it’s likely to be a nine-figure deal.

“It’s the people we’re going to miss,” says Jenden.

“They are like a second family to us; I genuinely mean that. For Leigh and I, it’s literally like having a second family - we’ve worked together for so long.”

Rod Jenden and his wife and business partner Leigh set up Wet & Forget in 1995. Photo/Jason Oxenham.

He says the “amazing” 130 staff in the business across New Zealand, Australia, the United States and the UK - including factory and warehouse workers, truck drivers, store managers and sales teams - have helped play a huge part in its success, and he and Leigh have been focused on ensuring they are looked after by the new owners.

“We needed to make sure that the entire team that has helped build the company are looked after and not being taken over by a company to change everything. Why fix it if it ain’t broke?”

The company’s range of products is known as much for their names as their effectiveness: among them Wet & Forget classic and Rapid Application (moss removers) Miss Muffet’s Revenge (spider control), Shower Witch (shower cleaner), War Paint (boat antifoul), Hitman (organic weedkiller), Hit the Deck (timber rejuvenator) and the recently released Pet Pong Gone (pet odours).

The company is also special in that its business model thrives on a network of its own stores - 21 nationwide, led by store managers who know the products intimately.

It drives customer loyalty, says retail operations manager Dave Hookey, with clients knowing they are dealing with experts directly.

The brand, and the products, have expanded globally into the US, under the leadership of Brett Perry, and Australia, under the leadership of Sally White. They’re also rapidly expanding in the UK and Europe - the international moves are one of the big attractions for Direct Capital.

Over the years, Jenden says, he and Leigh have been approached by various interested parties from both here and offshore. They hadn’t been looking to sell, he said, but on this occasion, they were reassured by Direct Capital about its intentions.

“The team got together - Leigh and I and Dave - and said, ‘Okay maybe we should be looking at it’. I’m not getting any younger, and provided the team would be all looked after - that was our number one critical point.”

Direct Capital, he said, had a strong reputation and great people.

Direct Capital was established in 1994 and, according to its website, is New Zealand’s largest private equity firm, “having raised over $1.7 billion in capital for investment into private companies”.

Direct Capital director Hugh Cotterill.

Direct Capital director Hugh Cotterill said Direct Capital was attracted to Wet & Forget because of its unique product offering, track record of growth, strong and long-tenured management team and the significant international growth opportunities. The investment represented Direct Capital’s fourth investment from its latest fund, Direct Capital VI, which raised $425m in March 2020, he said.

Wet & Forget’s products are manufactured at its own Auckland facility, in Silverdale, and in the US through third party manufacturers.

While it mainly distributes products in New Zealand through its own retail stores, the US, UK and Australian businesses sell the products via third-party retailers.

In a feature profile by senior Herald writer Jane Phare in 2021, Jenden - who grew up in a state house in Ōnehunga and left Penrose High School at the age of 15 - outlined how the Wet & Forget empire was built from scratch, and how it took 50 years of hard graft to build it to where it is today.

He first noticed the lichen and mould on the roofs of houses as he completed a bread run in an old van in the 1970s.

Through trial and error - initially by water-blasting, then using a potent bleach, before landing on non-caustic, non-acidic, low pH spray - Jenden formed the genesis of his company.

Rod Jenden, founder of Wet & Forget, at the company's factory in Silverdale. Photo / Jason Oxenham

In 1995, he and Leigh started Wet & Forget.

His five decades were marked by sleepless nights, fears that banks might shut the business down and worries over cashflow.

“We’ve been through some pretty tough times and I can tell you it’s not easy,” Jenden told Phare.

As Phare reported: “Realising that Kiwis wanted to buy the product directly, he started doing radio promotions in the mid-1990s to sell directly to customers through phone orders.

The punters loved it, sales soared and Jenden thought about retail. He got out of the paint and roof resurfacing lines, opened a little factory shop in Albany in 2003 and kept expanding the range.”

Two years ago - at the age of 70 - Jenden told Phare that he had no plans to retire.

“If I fell off my perch tomorrow, nothing would change. We’ve made sure it would be relatively easy for somebody to step in and carry on.

“We now have a company which is relatively successful and we’re enjoying the benefits of 50-odd years of blimmin’ hard work.”

Jenden told the Herald this week that the marketing and advertising had been a huge component in the company’s success.

“Desperation breeds inspiration, so when you’re first kicking off, you’re trying to get the public to try the products that we develop from our contracting days,” says Jenden.

“We knew that they were awesome. And it was a matter of convincing the general public out there that they can take advantage of them to maintain their properties.

“We’re deeply gratified that these people have trusted us and have supported us all these years.”

Hookey said customers had also become “unbelievably good advocates” - he fully expects a smooth transition with the sale and for that customer satisfaction to continue.

“You mention you work for Wet & Forget and straight away, people have a story about the product. We have a nation of committed Wet & Forgetters. We’re thankful for the support.”

Jenden told the Herald that the transaction with Direct Capital had been completed - “it’s a done deal” - and while he is leaving the business, wife Leigh will be there for a little while longer to complete the official handover.

The pair are looking forward to some more travel, and more time on the water.

“It’s unusual that a husband and wife could work together on a daily basis and live together and do all our leisure time, as well. From my point of view, I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve got a very talented and clever wife,” says Jenden.

“It’s been a crucial part of the business - Leigh is so involved in it and loves every aspect of what she does.”

Jenden jokes that he’ll now be gainfully unemployed, walking up and down the street at 4pm each day, hoping someone might invite him in for a drink.

“Hopefully I won’t look up and see the blinds closing,” he laughs.

* Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.