Candidates line up to purchase Coty's professional beauty division

By

Sarah Ahssen

Published
Feb 21, 2020

Last October, American cosmetics giant Coty announced that it was planning to sell its professional beauty division, which includes its haircare and nail brands, such as Wella, OPI and Sally Hansen, in order to reduce its debt and simplify its structure. The move is intended to "deleverage our balance sheet, and improve our ability to invest in areas with the greatest growth potential," explained Coty CEO Pierre Laubies at the time. 

According to Bloomberg, the possibility of a sale now looks increasingly likely, as a number of investment funds are already preparing their takeover offers. Advent International, whose investments include Lululemon and Gérard Darel, has reportedly shown interest, as has Bain Capital – with investments in Canada Goose and Maesa – and Cinven.

And they aren't the only interested parties: Henkel, Clayton Dubilier & Rice and Unilever, which is currently in the process of reviewing its own beauty division, are also apparently working on offers. Bloomberg states that the transaction could be worth up to $8 billion.

In the second quarter ended December 31, 2019, the American cosmetics company reported revenues of $2.5 billion, down 6.6% from the prior-year period.

Although Coty managed to narrow its losses in the first half of the fiscal year, the group, whose beauty brand portfolio includes the likes of Burberry, Gucci, Tiffany and Hugo Boss, is still struggling to integrate the 43 cosmetics labels that it acquired from Procter & Gamble for $12.5 billion in 2015.