It was just one year ago in June when the personal care and OTC contract manufacturer Vee Pak (founded in 1989); personal care and household products maker Cosmetic Essence Innovations (better known as CEI; and founded in 1984); and insights, R&D, and manufacturing company Aware Products (founded in 1974) became a single company known as Voyant Beauty Holdings.
Voyant is now set to acquire another beauty manufacturing venture, the personal care business of KIK (or KPC).
Voyant Beauty focuses on marketing insights, product development, and manufacturing
This month’s Voyant – KIK deal lets each company specialize in distinct industry sectors. “The combination with Voyant Beauty will allow KPC to be part of an organization that is focused entirely on the same industry,” points out Jared Knudson, CEO at KIK.
“The two businesses,” he says, “are highly complementary and merging will enable a broader customer offering, enhanced innovation capabilities, and an extensive manufacturing network.”
When it’s all said and done, Knudson calls “this transaction…a very positive development for the KPC business.”
The Voyant Beauty team is led by Richard McEvoy, CEO; Bill Saracco, CFO; and Bill Smith, SVP of Supply Chain. The company is headquartered in Hodgkins, Illinois, and has facilities in Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; New Albany, Ohio; Holmdel, New Jersey; Roanoke, Virginia; and Ridgefield, Connecticut; as well as a fine fragrance filling facility in Stryków, Poland.
KIK got its start in 1993 in the private label bleach business
Since ‘93, the company has grown by acquisition, buying up bleach facilities in North America, moving into the private label household cleanser business in 2007 and getting into the pool treatment business by acquiring Chem Lab Product in 2011.
The company has since licensed the Clorox brand to launch Clorox Pool & Spa; bought up Biolab, Purox, SYNaqua Pool Care, Sunbelt Pool Chemicals, and most recently NC Brands (all other pool treatment businesses). KIK also moved into the hospitality or amenities space with the acquisition of Marietta in 2015. And KIK expanded into the automotive industry, personal care, and laundry by acquisition as well.
KIK itself was acquired in 2015 by Centerbridge Partners, a private equity and credit investments firm based in New York City. The company had previously been owned by CI Capital Partners, a firm specializing in middle-market companies.
“For KIK, the KPC divestiture is a logical next step in the transformation we began in early 2019,” Knudson, tells the press.
So going forward, KIK is out of the beauty business. “We see tremendous opportunities to leverage the common elements of our Household, Pool and Automotive businesses and focus on our core competencies as a pure-play consumer products business,” explains Knudson. “We believe this change capitalizes and builds on KIK's strong momentum as we move into the second half of 2020 and beyond.”
