Unilever to acquire Sundial Brands, a personal care products manufacturer

Cosmetic industry news : London-based consumers goods company Unilever has agreed to acquire New York-based personal care products manufacturer Sundial Brands for an undisclosed price.

Unilever acquisition of Sundial Brands is expected to speed up the growth of the consumer goods giant’s personal care category by covering underserved requirements of multicultural and millennial consumers.

Established in 1991, Sundial Brands makes haircare and skincare products that are claimed to use high-quality and culturally authentic ingredients.

Its brands include SheaMoisture, Nubian Heritage, nyakio and Madam C.J. Walker.

Sundial Brands revenue for 2017 has been estimated to touch about $240 million.

Sundial Brands personal care products range. Photo courtesy of Unilever.

Commenting on Unilever acquisition of Sundial Brands, Kees Kruythoff, the President of Unilever North America, said: “The Sundial team has built differentiated and on-trend premium brands serving multicultural and millennial consumers that enhance our existing portfolio.

“Sundial is an important addition to our U.S. portfolio of purpose-driven companies, which includes Ben & Jerry’s and Seventh Generation.”

After the completion of the acquisition by Unilever, Sundial Brands will operate as an independent unit within the consumer goods giant. Richelieu Dennis, the founder of Sundial Brands will be retained to head the personal care products manufacturer in the roles of CEO and Executive Chairman.

Richelieu Dennis, commenting on Unilever acquisition of Sundial Brands, said: “I’ve always wanted Sundial Brands to be an inspiration to other minority-owned companies of how a business against all odds can achieve excellence, have significant social impact in our communities and be successful on a world stage.

“I am excited Sundial and Unilever have created this partnership, rooted in a purpose-driven ethos, that represents an incredible opportunity to take our Community Commerce economic empowerment and impact model to another level.”

As part of the transaction, Unilever and Sundial Brands will come up with the New Voices Fund by initially investing $50 million with an intention to empower women of color entrepreneurs. The plan is to grow the Fund to $100 million by luring investments from other interested parties, stated Unilever.

Unilever acquisition of Sundial Brands is anticipated to be completed in Q1 2018 provided it gets regulatory approval.

Earlier in the month, Unilever completed its €2.27bn acquisition of South Korean cosmetics company Carver Korea.

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