Procter & Gamble Co. will sell its
Frédéric Fekkai hair care brand and salons,
the latest move by the consumer-products company to focus on a
smaller number of core brands.
Designer Parfums, whose products include Jean Patou fragrances,
and Luxe Brands, which recently announced a fragrance partnership
with singer Ariana Grande, have formed a new joint venture that
will buy the business.
P&G declined to disclose the sale price. The Wall Street
Journal reported in 2008 that the purchase of
Frédéric Fekkai from private-equity firm
Catterton Partners was valued at slightly more than $400
million.
Fekkai is primarily a North American brand. The business being
sold has 225 employees, a vast majority of which are stylists and
salon workers.
A P&G spokesman said the sale is in line with the company's
broader plan to shed noncore brands to better focus on what it
considers its core beauty brands, which include hair-care products
Pantene and Head & Shoulders.
P&G has so far announced plans for around 40 brand exits out
of a goal of about 100, and wants to map out the remainder of the
divestments or exits by this summer.
Investment bankers are currently working on finding buyers for
other P&G beauty brands including its Wella and Clairol salon
hair-care products division and a portfolio of designer fragrances.
Those brands collectively generate close to a third of P&G's
beauty sales.
Late last year, P&G struck deals to sell its Camay and Zest
soap brands to Unilever PLC and battery maker Duracell to Warren
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Write to Josh Beckerman at josh.beckerman@wsj.com and Serena Ng
at serena.ng@wsj.com
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