Bankers Betting on Beauty

Beauty was one of the most talked about sectors at the recent M&A World, according to a report in Women’s Wear Daily. For many investors, the lure of an established mid-size company with good cash flow is too much to resist.


Some of the best known deals during the past year include Pola Orbis Holdings’ purchase of Jurlique for $300 million, the sales of Physicians Formula to Swander Pace Capital for $65 million which, in turn, is selling the brand to Markwins. Meanwhile, Urban Decay is said to be in talks with Deutsche Bank to find a buyer.


In fact, according to PwC, third quarter M&A deal volume and values are up 60% and 160%, respectively, from a year ago. A lot of the deals in the consumer space continue to be consumer packaged goods firms selling non-core operations.


PwC said that for the three-month period ended Sept. 30, there were 32 deals in the retail and consumer sector with values greater than $50 million, which accounted for $19.8 billion in deal value in the period. That compares with 20 deals worth $7.6 billion in the same period last year. In addition there were six megadeals with values of $1 billion or more, representing $13.9 billion, versus three such transactions last year totaling $4.3 billion.