This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Brazilian flip-flop brand Havaianas is being sold for nearly £850m as its billionaire owners flog the family silver to pay a £2.5bn fine relating to a corruption scandal that is threatening to topple the country’s president.

The owner J&F, part of the business empire of Brazil’s disgraced Batista family, said it had sold an 86% stake in the sandal maker for R3.5bn (£844m) to a consortium of wealthy investors.

The Batistas were fined R$10.3bn (£2.5bn) in May after brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista confessed to bribing almost 1,900 politicians to obtain cheap government loans for their businesses. The scandal has reached the top of Brazilian politics with President Michel Temer among those accused of corruption.

Made by the São Paulo-based Alpargatas, Havaianas turned what had previously been overlooked as functional footwear into a fashion phenomenon with Gywneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston among the celebrity fans.

The brand was launched in the early 1960s, with the name “Havaianas” derived from the Portuguese word for Hawaiians. The style is based on traditional Japanese zori sandals, which have soles made out of rice straw.

While the Brazilian climate means Havianas can be worn all year round, UK shoppers have embraced the brand with gusto and its stores are a fixture in shopping centres such as Bluewater in Kent, Westfield in White City and Lakeside, Essex.

Upmarket versions of the sandals, including pairs encrusted with Swarovski crystals, means it costs anywhere between £18 and £190 for a pair of Havaianas.

Alpargatas, which also owns beachwear brand Osklen and Mizuno, the Japanese sportswear brand, is being acquired by a trio of Brazilian investment firms including Itaúsa – which oversees the fortune of the Villela and Setúbal families who control Latin America’s biggest bank Itaú Unibanco – and Cambuhy, the vehicle of the billionaire Moreira Salles family.