Unilever carves out the Suave brand in North America, selling it to the middle-market private equity firm Yellow Wood Partners.
WHO: 75-year-old Suave is a personal care brand with a wide range of products across haircare, body care, and more for men, women, and children.
Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of Personal Care, Beauty & Wellbeing, Home Care, Nutrition, and Ice Cream products, with sales in over 190 countries and products used by 3.4 billion people every day. The company has 148,000 employees worldwide and generated sales of €60.1 billion in 2022. Their leading brands in North America include Dove, Knorr, Hellmann's, Magnum, Axe, Ben & Jerry's, Talenti, Degree, Seventh Generation, TRESemmé, Shea Moisture, Vaseline, Liquid I.V., OLLY, Dermalogica, Living Proof, and Hourglass.
Yellow Wood Partners is a Boston-based private investment firm that invests exclusively in the consumer industry in the middle market. The firm looks to acquire branded consumer products that sell into various consumer channels, including mass, drug, food, specialty, value, club, and e-commerce. Yellow Wood's portfolio includes Dr. Scholl's, School International, Beacon Wellness Brands, Real Techniques, EcoTools, Isle of Paradise, Tanologist, TanLuxe, Freeman Beauty, and Byoma.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Esi Eggleston Bracey, President of Unilever USA and CEO of Unilever Personal Care North America, said, "This is another step on our path to shift our portfolio towards strategic growth spaces. 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."
Dana Schmaltz, Partner of Yellow Wood Partners, said, "Suave is ubiquitously recognized for its long history of providing accessible high-quality beauty products to American consumers and we are excited to add it to our portfolio of investments. We especially want to thank Unilever for its collaboration as we move forward to completing this carveout."
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