03.21.24
The Clorox Company recently announced the sale of certain wholly owned subsidiaries with operations in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, to Apex Capital – a private equity fund associated with Grupo Mariposa, a 139-year-old food and beverage company with operations in 16 countries – and an investment group led by Diego Barral, former senior vice president and general manager of International at Clorox.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The transaction included Clorox Argentina's two production plants, as well as rights to certain Clorox brands in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay and shared intellectual property across those brands. The transaction does not include Clorox's Latin America research and development and corporate hubs, which will remain in Argentina to support Clorox's ongoing operations in other Latin American markets and provide transitional services to Clorox Argentina under its new ownership.
Clorox Argentina's employees, including all production staff, will remain employed by Clorox Argentina (to be renamed and operate under Grupo Ayudin) except for employees dedicated to the R&D and corporate hubs, who will remain with Clorox under a new corporate structure in Argentina.
"This transaction supports our Ignite strategy and our commitment to evolve our portfolio to increase our focus on our core business to drive more consistent, profitable growth," said Chair and CEO Linda Rendle. "I would like to thank our teammates in Argentina for effectively managing the business in this dynamic operating environment. The new owners share our values and bring proven local operating experience and we believe their focus on maximizing the potential of the business will position it to deliver continued growth that benefits consumers and employees."
Clorox Argentina represents approximately 2% of the company's fiscal year 2024 net sales outlook provided in the most recent February 2024 earnings release. As a result of this transaction, the company will incur a one-time, after-tax charge of approximately $233 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2024 (or approximately a $1.87 reduction to earnings per share). Most of this charge is driven by the non-cash release of roughly $222 million of accumulated currency translation previously recorded in equity.
This transaction is expected to reduce the company's fiscal year 2024 net sales growth by approximately half a point and adjusted earnings per share by $0.00 to $0.02 cents.