Unilever sells its Suave brand to Yellow Wood Partners

Unilever consumer goods company announced this week that its Suave brand in North America has been acquired by Yellow Wood Partners LLC, a private equity firm. The British company confirmed the sale on Tuesday, Feb. 14.

Unilever USA said it has sold its beauty and personal care brand to the PEF company but did not divulge the financial terms of the acquisition deal. It is expecting to close the deal by the second quarter of this year.

But then again, it was clarified that the sale of Suave will only affect the units in the United States and Canada. Outside of these two countries, Unilever will remain the owner and continue the business operations of its Suave brand.

“This is another step on our path to shift our portfolio towards strategic growth spaces,” Unilever USA president and chief executive officer of personal care North America, Esi Eggleston Bracey, said in a press release. “Suave has been a much-loved brand since the 1930s, and I am confident it will continue to thrive and serve consumers under its new ownership in North America.”

In a separate release, a partner of Yellow Wood Partners, Dana Schmaltz, stated that they are excited to create a strong working relationship with Unilever in this acquisition deal. He further shared that they are also thrilled to have the company’s intense focus on investing in and operating consumer brands which led Yellow Woods to acquire the famous Suave brand from Unilever.

“Suave is ubiquitously recognized for its long history of providing accessible high-quality beauty products to American consumers dating to the 1930s and we are excited to add it to our portfolio of investments,” Schmaltz said in a statement. “We believe our extensive experience with divestitures of large and small brands from multi-national consumer branded companies such as Bayer and Reckitt will help us successfully transition and grow Suave as a focused brand in the Yellow Wood portfolio."

Photo by: seamusiv/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)