Footy hall of fame star makes a small fortune selling $450 million of popular sunscreen brand Bondi Sands to a Japanese beauty company

AFL Hall of Fame star Garry Wilson’s decision to support his son’s fledgling company has made the former Fitzroy rover filthy rich, with the company being sold to Japanese multinational Kao Group for $450 million.

Wilson, nicknamed Flea, was considered one of the best players of his era after playing 14 seasons with the Lions from 1971-84.

Known for his bravery and trademark headgear, Wilson played 268 games and kicked 452 goals averaging 25 possessions and 1.7 goals per game as a robber.

In retirement, he became a seed capital investor for his son’s company Bondi Sands – a decision that has now made him a multi-millionaire.

Shaun Wilson (pictured right) is the son of Garry Wilson and co-founder of Bondi Sands, which was sold this week to Japanese multinational Kao Group

No other tanning product is coming to Bondi Sands in Australia and the company also has a hugely popular SPF range

However, it was off to a shaky start for the tanning products company when it launched 11 years ago, with an early batch turning customers’ skin green and necessitating a recall.

“It wasn’t the best start,” his son and Bondi Sands CEO Shaun Wilson said in 2020.

‘The quality control of one of the ingredients was not up to par and we had to make a recall. We faced it and were honest with our wholesaler Priceline and they gave us another chance.”

However, the company bounced back quickly to become the country’s most iconic tanning product, growing about 55 percent year-over-year.

Bondi Sands will report annual sales of $190 million for 2023, is the leading self-tanning product in Australia and includes a hugely successful SPF product range for sale locally and in the UK.

Wilson changed the way the game was played during his VFL career in the 1970s and 1980s, creating the template of the modern goalscorer

Wilson, pictured right, was known for his distinctive headgear and was nicknamed Flea in part because of his short stature

Shaun Wilson also got engaged to model girlfriend Tess Shanahan this week to cap off a huge week

Garry Wilson was one of three investors in those early days, which included his son Shaun and co-founder and Melbourne businessmen Blair James.

Shaun said the deal with Kao will be transformational for the brand.

We’ve really just scratched the surface in terms of our growth opportunities and myself and the leadership team, we’re fully committed to that, and it’s exciting to be working with Kao,” Mr. Wilson told The Australian Financial Review.

“Americas is a big focus for the company, we just launched in Walmart, so that’s 4,000 doors next month. We also have strong distribution with Ulta, Walgreens, CVS and Target, and we’re a leader on Amazon.”

“We want to be a leader in global skincare protection,” he said. “We have the fastest growing SPF business in Australia and in the UK.”

It caps off a huge week for Shaun, who also got engaged to model girlfriend Tess Shanahan in an elaborate beach proposal.