Unilever to Sell Noncore Personal Care Brands to Yellow Wood Partners

Samantha Conti
·3 min read

LONDON — Unilever has agreed a sale of Elida Beauty two years after first marketing the cluster of more than 20 brands, including Q-tips, Caress, Timotei and Tigi.

Unilever confirmed Monday that it has a binding offer from Yellow Wood Partners LLC to acquire Elida, which generated turnover of around 800 million euros in 2022.

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The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Unilever said the offer is subject to the usual closing conditions, regulatory requirements and consultation processes, with completion expected by mid-2024.

Fabian Garcia, president of Unilever’s Personal Care division, said the sale marks “another step toward the optimization” of the portfolio, adding the priority is to step up the growth of the consumer giant’s “power brands.”

“I am sure under the new ownership the Elida brands will continue to prosper and serve consumers across North America and Europe,” Garcia said.

Tad Yanagi of Yellow Wood Partners said the Elida brands are an important part of consumers’ daily lives. “We believe the brands will flourish in the Yellow Wood operating model, where our teams will work to build and enhance growth and accessibility,” he added.

Yellow Wood Partners is a Boston-based private investment firm that invests in consumer, mid-market companies. The firm said its aim is to acquire branded consumer products that sell into a variety of consumer channels, including mass, drug, food, specialty, value, club and e-commerce.

Unilever had first planned to sell Elida in 2021 as part of an ongoing strategy to dispose of noncore brands.

It put the sale on hold in 2022 after its failed attempts to purchase GlaxoSmithKline’s consumer health care arm, and the arrival of activist shareholder Nelson Peltz to the company’s board of directors.

At the time, Unilever said it could create more value if it managed Elida as an independent unit within the overall business.

But with new CEO Hein Schumacher on board, and a new strategy to invest in Unilever’s fastest-growing brands and multiyear innovations, Unilever decided it was the right time to let Elida go.

In October during the company’s third-quarter results presentation, Schumacher said his aim is to simplify and streamline the Unilever business, and focus on the top 30 “power brands,” which are growing faster than the company average, and which generate more than 70 percent of turnover.

In beauty, those brands include Dove, Dermalogica, Paula’s Choice and Pond’s. Schumacher also indicated that there could be more disposals in the pipeline.

Unilever formed Elida Beauty in 2021, and its original brands included Q-tips, Tigi, Caress, Timotei, Impulse, Noxzema, Brylcreem and V05.

The company said it later added Brut, Pond’s (for North America and Europe only) and St. Ives (for North America and Europe only).

Unilever clarified that the proposed sale to Yellow Wood Partners does not include the Pond’s and St. Ives brands sold beyond North America and Europe. They will remain in Unilever’s Beauty & Wellbeing brand portfolio.

Shares in Unilever were broadly flat at 37.32 pounds in morning trading on Monday following the announcement.

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