Henkel to acquire three hair care brands as part of North America expansion plan

Germany-based personal and home care provider Henkel has signed an agreement with San Francisco-based TSG Consumer Partners that will add three big hair care brands to its portfolio.

As part of the €270m ($367m) deal, Henkel will now add the SexyHair, Alterna and Kenra brands to its hair care portfolio, which already includes the global retail hair care brands Schwarzkopf and Syoss.

In the US, the three brands will strengthen the company’s presence in the market for hair styling and hair care, and in particular makes it one of the biggest players in the global professional hair care market, generating an additional €140m in yearly income.

Offer reflects value of professional hair care market

The offer works out to be approximately 1.9 times the yearly income of the TSG business, and is said to have beaten another recent bid by competitor Revlon to buy up hair care player Colomer that equated to approximately 1.2 the value of annual sales.

In the professional and salon hair care market, the company’s business is divided into four principle categories, which includes hair color, styling, care and form.

Within the hair care and styling categories the company already owns existing brands such as Seah, Indola, BC Bonacure and Clynol, while in the styling category its brands include Schwarzkopf Osis and 3D Men Sion as well as brands housed under the Indola and Clynol names.

All eyes on North American professional hair care

“This acquisition is part of our strategy to invest in attractive country category positions in mature markets,” said Henkel CEO Kasper Rorsted. “North America is the biggest single market for Henkel and with these companies, we will further strengthen our presence in this region.”

“The high-performance and high-quality brands and organizations are a perfect fit for our Beauty Care business and will significantly expand our Hair Professional core category,” explained Hans Van Bylen, Executive Vice President and responsible for Henkel’s Beauty Care business.

The acquisition will be subject to the global antitrust and competition authorities, and the company has not yet given a time-frame for the deal to be sealed.

Henkel is present in the laundry and home care, cosmetic and personal care and adhesive industry segments. The Cosmetics and personal care is the second biggest business division, after adhesives and its hair care division is said to contribute approximately 15% of annual group revenues of €16.4bn in 2013.