This week, former Johnson & Johnson executives joined Procter & Gamble and beauty chain Boots or were sold.
Source | Poly beauty
Author | Jade
Want to know what is happening in the global cosmetics industry?Global News Issue 293 will take you to a quick overview of this week's (December 11th - December 15th)~
Estee Lauder debuted as a Chinese fragrance brand
On December 15, Melt Season, a Chinese high-end fragrance brand, announced that it had received a strategic investment of tens of millions of yuan from New Incubation Ventures (NIV), an investment company under the Estee Lauder Companies, with Palm Capital as the exclusive financial advisor. This investment is the first time that The Estée Lauder Companies has invested in a high-end fragrance brand in China. It is understood that melt season's parent company, Verse China, was founded in 2020 and positioned the light luxury route, aiming to become a global brand group like LVMH. On the product side, its first brand Melt Season chose to start from the perfume track, positioning it as an oriental salon perfume, with "salon fragrance" as the core product, and a total of 10 perfumes were listed, namely the haute couture series "Gitanjali", "Hu", "Motuo", etc., as well as the classic series "Yuzumi" and "Veil". At the same time, it has also expanded its product categories to scented candles, flameless aromatherapy, personal care, etc.
It is worth noting that this round of investment by Estee Lauder Group is the third round of financing of Melt Season. Soon after its establishment, melt season received a seed round of financing led by One Three Capital, and an angel round of financing of over 10 million yuan led by Breeze Capital. Regarding the investment of the Estee Lauder Group, Ni Lishi, the founder of the Melt Season brand, said that the Estee Lauder Companies' decades of experience and resources in the beauty industry will empower Melt Season, and will help in product research and development, brand globalization, and overseas channels in the future. "Melt Season is a luxury brand that grew up in China. The brand reinvents Chinese aesthetics and values with a modern vocabulary, which is unique and in line with the corporate culture of The Estée Lauder Companies. Estée Lauder Investments commented on the brands it invested.
Unilever is investing in Straand, a prebiotic hair care brand
According to foreign media news, the Australian hair care brand Straand received $4 million (about 28.46 million yuan) in seed funding. The round was co-led by Unilever Ventures and Harvey Family Office. It is worth noting that Unilever Ventures invested 2 million US dollars (about 13.5 million yuan) in the brand in January 2023. It is understood that Straand was founded in 2022, which adheres to the concept of cruelty-free, vegan, and natural, mainly solving problems such as dry scalp, scaling, thinning, and hair loss, and is Australia's first prebiotic-focused scalp care brand. Straand replaces the chemicals in traditional care products with a prebiotic ingredient and a plant-derived ingredient Defenscalp, which promotes scalp health in a way that promotes scalp™ health.
Meagan Pate, co-founder and managing director of Straand, has said: "Many hair care products in the past have irritated the hair scalp and some have even caused hair color loss. So when we developed the shampoo, we treated the scalp like a face based on the philosophy of skin circulation. "At present, Straand, which has been established for one year, has launched four prebiotic hair care products. Although Straand has a team of only 11 people, its science-based functional hair care products are among the top in the market, and it has also reached cooperation with Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Amazon to jointly promote the expansion plan in the European and American markets. Through this financing, the company has signed an agreement with Sephora to open more than 70 stores in Australia, the United Kingdom, and Southeast Asia in early 2024. Its goal is to achieve sales of 25 million Australian dollars (about 120 million yuan) in the next five years. Sarah Hamilton, co-founder of Straand, said she was delighted to receive the funding and to have such a strong group of strategic investors who love the scalp care category.
Unilever wants to sell off its non-core brands
Unilever is investing in start-up personal care brands to expand the international market, while selling brands to combat inflation and streamline operations. Unilever has hired investment banks Morgan Stanley and Evercore to sell a basket of non-core beauty and personal care brands, including Q-Tips and Impulse, according to people familiar with the matter. According to the data, the brand portfolio is called Elida Beauty, including Caress, TIGI, Timotei, Monsavon, St.Ives, Zwitsal and other brands, and Elida Beauty's overall revenue in 2022 will be about 760 million US dollars (about 5.5 billion yuan). According to sources, Morgan Stanley and Evercore have now been in contact with multiple parties to assess interest in the acquisition of Elida Beauty, which could be a "multi-billion" deal. Unilever worked with Credit Suisse to divest Elida Beauty in 2021, but the process was halted after other consumer companies were selective of the brands they were selling, resulting in bids that did not meet Unilever's valuation expectations. At the same time, Unilever is also considering selling some American ice cream brands, including Klondike and Breyers.
In addition, foreign media reported that Unilever will be investigated by the British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The reason is that competition regulators are investigating after a preliminary review of brands such as Dove, Lynx, Marmite, Vaseline and others found that Unilever used "a series of worrying practices" in marketing. Unilever's claims about certain aspects of a product may be reported to imply that the product is environmentally friendly as a whole, claims about certain ingredients may exaggerate how natural the product is, and Unilever's use of colors and images (such as green leaves) can give the impression that certain products are more environmentally friendly than they actually are. The CMA said consumers could be misled by Unilever's "green claims" about some of its products. Unilever may exaggerate the greenness of certain products by using vague and broad claims and vague statements about recyclability. Sarah Cardell, chief executive of CMA, said: "We have evidence that there is already evidence that Unilever is promoting certain products as environmentally friendly, which has raised concerns. We will conduct an in-depth study and verify that the product meets the standards. If they are found to be indeed 'greenwashing', we will take action to ensure that consumers are protected." ”
时隔3月,Nat Habit又获融资
Recently, personal care brand Nat Habit announced the completion of a $10.2 million (about 72.61 million yuan) Series B financing, led by Bertelsmann India Investment (BII), followed by old shareholders Fireside Ventures, Amazon India Fund, Mirabilis Investment Trust, Sharp Ventures, etc. In addition, in September this year, Nat Habit received 9 million US dollars (about 63.99 million yuan) in Series A financing. After three months, it once again received tens of millions of financing. For this funding, Nat Habit plans to strategically allocate funds that will drive growth and expansion in new categories, retail, R&D, and talent. At present, its annual revenue is 820 million rupees (about 70.04 million yuan), and Nat Habit aims to achieve more than 4 times growth in the next two years to 3.5 billion rupees (about 300 million yuan).
According to the data, Nat Habit was established in 2019 and focuses on natural care products with Ayurvedic beauty as the core, covering skin care, hair care, maternal and child care and other fields. Currently, Nat Habit serves nearly 1.4 million customers and ships 15,000 pieces per day, with more than 70% of them coming from first- and second-tier cities. Dipanjan Basu, Venture Partner at Fireside Ventures, an existing shareholder, said: "India's beauty and personal care market is in a period of growth, with multiple emerging needs and consumer gaps currently in the market. We were attracted by Nat Habit's innovative products and unwavering commitment to the market. Fireside will continue to support this visionary purpose and entrepreneurial spirit, which is very much in line with our fund's purpose (which is to build a responsible brand that is good for the environment and people). Commenting on the announcement, founder Swagatika Das said, "Nat Habit was founded with the vision of providing authentic, healthy natural care for all. Over the years, we have witnessed great support from investors who have helped us provide high-quality, sustainable and truly natural personal care products. With our recent Series B funding round, we aim to double down on our efforts to build a stronger community and take even greater strides toward making Nat Habit the go-to brand for everyday personal care needs in the homegrow. ”
Boots, a well-known British beauty chain, may be sold
According to foreign media reports citing people familiar with the matter, Walgreens and Walgreens Boots Alliance are in early negotiations on the spin-off of Boots, a well-known British beauty chain, including the possibility of an IPO in London. The deal could be worth around £7 billion (about 63.54 billion yuan). According to public information, Boots is a British beauty and skin care company with a history of more than 150 years, with more than 2,000 stores in the UK, and has its own brands such as No7 Beauty Co.
People familiar with the matter pointed out that the process of Boots will not be launched until next year at the earliest. In November, Walgreens reached an agreement to transfer Boots' "pension risk" to Legal & General Group PIc, addressing the complications of the previous divestiture effort. Looking back at the development of Boots, this sale was also a last resort. It is reported that in 2006, Boots merged with pharmaceutical wholesaler Unichem, and the following year, the acquisition company KKR acquired the merged group for 11 billion pounds (about 99.84 billion yuan). In 2012, Walgreens acquired a 45% stake in Alliance Boots, completing the acquisition of the company two years later. Pesina and his partner, Ornella Barra, Boots' chief operating officer for international operations, have been the backbone of the company since the company's initial merger. Like many retailers, Boots has experienced a tumultuous pandemic when it announced it was laying off 4,000 employees in 2020 due to a restructuring of its Nottingham headquarters, store management team. And last year, Walgreens tried to focus on growing its North American business and put a tender for the sale of Boots. However, the sale was abandoned in June 2022 due to the inability to obtain a desirable valuation of the business. It's worth noting that Walgreens may also choose to invite a new acquirer to acquire Boots, which is still in the preliminary discussion stage and is not sure that a deal will be made, while Walgreens declined to respond to the matter.
Former Johnson & Johnson executives join P&G's board of directors
Procter & Gamble announced today that its board of directors has appointed Ashley McEvoy, former executive vice president and global chairman of Johnson & Johnson Medical Technologies, as a member of the company's board of directors, effective December 12, 2023. In Johnson & Johnson's nearly three-decade career, Ashley McEvoy led the US$27 billion (191.9 billion yuan) medical device division, which is considered the world's second-largest medical device business. In this role, she spearheads the development of integrated digital solutions to improve outcomes for millions of people around the world. He also led Johnson & Johnson's entry into telemedicine, robotics, digital surgery, and the deployment of more than US$20 billion (about 142.2 billion yuan) of mergers and acquisitions in recent years to expand the business portfolio.
In addition, Ashley McEvoy has served as Global President of Ethicon Products, President of McNeil Consumer Healthcare, and in various management, marketing, and brand management roles in OTC and other consumer healthcare segments. Jon Moeller, Chairman, President and CEO of P&G, said, "Ashley McEvoy's transformative leadership, track record of innovation, and extensive experience serving consumers and growing markets will be an asset to P&G. Her expertise will further strengthen our Board's ability to improve the lives of consumers around the world for us." ”
LG Household Healthcare's R&D investment is the No. 1 in Korea
Recently, Korea Cosmetics News reported that the cumulative average R&D expenditure of 69 major local cosmetics companies in Q1~Q3 of 2023 will be 8.3 billion won (about 45.56 million yuan), a year-on-year increase of 4.7%. Average sales accounted for 3.3 percent, unchanged from the same period last year. Among them, the top four R&D expenses accounted for the highest proportion were LG Household and Healthcare, Amorepacific Group, Kolmar, and Cosmax.
Specifically, from 2023Q1 to 2023Q3, the company with the largest R&D investment is LG Life Healthcare, with R&D expenses of 127.3 billion won (about 700 million yuan), a year-on-year increase of 10.9%, accounting for 2.4% of sales. In second place was Amorepacific Group, with R&D expenses of 100.2 billion won (about 550 million yuan), up 10.6% year-on-year, accounting for 3.3% of sales. In third place is South Korea's Kolmar, with R&D expenses of 93.5 billion won (about 513 million yuan), a year-on-year increase of 6.1%, accounting for 5.8% of sales. In fourth place is Cosmax, with spending of 62.7 billion won (about 344 million yuan), a year-on-year increase of 12.7%. Sales accounted for 4.7%. In fifth place was Medytox, with R&D expenses of 36.3 billion won (about 200 million yuan), a year-on-year increase of 21.2%, accounting for 23.7% of sales. Although the amount increased by 6.4 billion won (about 35.13 million yuan), the cost recognition decreased slightly. The 6th-10th places are Hugel, Cosmeca Korea, Kolmavi&H, and Miwon Trading. For the cosmetics market, investment in R&D is the best reflection of a company's level capabilities. Only by increasing investment in R&D and based on technology can we achieve product differentiation and obtain increments with high-quality products. News/Image source: PIM, Sina Finance, happi, Korea Cosmetics News, official websites of various companies
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——2023 Big Value Industry Annual Conference——Proya Fang Yuyou, Shangmei Lu Yixiong, Yatsen E-commerce Huang Jinfeng, Huaxizi Feislow and other guests confirmed to attend and release blockbuster speeches, and more guests continue to be confirmed. The 11th Jumei Conference focused on the latest exploration and insight of the big value industry, united the upstream and downstream cross-border experts of the industry, and made suggestions for domestic brands to cope with the competition in the new era, and was named the "Big Beauty Industry Annual Conference". At present, the main process of the conference has been released, and the price increase channel for tickets has officially opened, and the price will be increased according to the ticket situation until the original price is restored. At present, the preferential price is 880 yuan,