Report: Coty Will Acquire Procter & Gamble’s Beauty Brands

Image courtesy of (Mike Mozart)

Procter & Gamble has been looking to streamline its massive portfolio of brands, looking to sell, spin off, or shut down the majority of them. Last night, the unofficial news came out that many of the company’s beauty brands sold to competitor Coty, which means that Cover Girl and Clairol will be run by another drugstore cosmetics veteran.

Coty may not be a name that you recognize, but the cosmetics conglomerate owns a wide variety of brands: they sell branded fragrances for everyone from Beyoncé to Playboy to Vespa (yes, the scooter company). Their best-known brand is probably nail care products sold under the name Sally Hansen (who was not a real person) but they also own higher-prestige brands like OPI (nail care) and Philosophy (skin care).

Coty isn’t in the hair care business, so acquiring hair color brands like Clairol and Wella would introduce them to a new market. They are, however, already selling products to salons: OPI sells nail polishes and supplies to pros as well as directly to consumers.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer estimates that the acquisition would double Coty’s annual sales. The brands included in the deal are Cover Girl, Max Factor (which remains popular in Europe, but is no longer sold here) and the two hair color brands, Clairol and Wella. P&G would hold on to its brands that revolve around soap and shampoo, like Aussie, Old Spice, and Pantene.

There are other bidders in the mix, including private-equity firms and other soap companies, so this deal isn’t finalized yet. Some sources are also reporting that Coty won the bid for Procter & Gamble’s fragrance brands.

Coty reportedly nabs P&G beauty brands [Cleveland Plain Dealer]

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