Church & Dwight Buys Unilever U.S. Oral Care Brands for $104 Million

Arm & Hammer parent company Church & Dwight Co. has agreed to buy the U.S. and Canadian oral care brands of Unilever NV for $104 million, plus additional performance-based cash payments of between $5 million and $12 million at a later date.

The businesses, which include Mentadent toothpaste and toothbrushes, Pepsodent and Aim toothpaste, and the exclusive licensing rights to Close-Up toothpaste, recorded sales of $61 million in the first six months of 2003. Unilever put the brands up for sale as part of its strategy to focus more closely on its top brands, which include Dove soap and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. The company plans to keep its oral care brands outside the U.S. and Canada.

The deal, which should close in the fourth quarter, will double Church & Dwight’s oral care sales in the U.S. Since Church & Dwight plans to move the manufacturing of the acquired toothpaste brands to its Lakewood, NJ plant within the next year and will invest in marketing the brands, the deal isn’t expected to add much to Church & Dwight’s earnings in its first year.

The Unilever brands have been in decline, but the brand equities of the products “remain strong,” said Church & Dwight chairman and chief executive officer Robert Davies.