Announcing the news, Revlon highlighted these key brands within the newly combined company’s portfolio: Revlon, Elizabeth Arden, Revlon ColorSilk, Revlon Professional, and American Crew, as well as the fragrance brands: Juicy Couture, John Varvatos, Wildfox Couture, Curve, Elizabeth Taylor, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Giorgio Beverly Hills, and Jennifer Aniston.
What’s the deal?
By acquiring Elizabeth Arden, Revlon gains (most notably) market reach and prestige brands. “We expect to benefit from greater scale, an expanded global footprint and a significant presence across all major beauty categories and channels,” affirms Fabian Garcia, president and CEO of the company, in a press release about the deal.
“As a combined organization with net sales of approximately $3 billion, this acquisition will help to further accelerate our growth trajectory, position us among the top beauty players and unlock far greater upside than either company would have realized on a stand-alone basis,” he says, adding that “the combination of two iconic companies creates a multi-brand, global beauty enterprise and tremendous opportunity for long-term growth and value creation.”
In the short term
Since the deal was first announce in June, the companies have been working to transition the business effectively. Garcia makes a point in his comments to the press to “thank Scott Beattie, Chairman and CEO of Elizabeth Arden for his leadership during the transition, and for his role in helping us bring our companies together.”
Beattie will likely serve as an advisor to Garcia and take a non-executive vice-chairman role on the Revlon board of directors. Elizabeth Aarden executives now report to Garcia, while “the balance of the operating structure will continue largely unchanged for the remainder of 2016, in order to ensure delivery of each business’s operating plans,” according to the press release.
Garcia further explains the short-term approach to combining the two beauty companies by saying, “our immediate focus will be to deliver our financial objectives for the remainder of 2016, effectively integrate the two organizations and develop the combined company’s long-term corporate and portfolio strategy that will guide the choices we make and the realization of our full potential.”