Coty To Have a Good Hair Day

Seeing opportunity in the burgeoning hair care marketplace, Coty has reached a definitive agreement to acquire ghd, a premium brand in high-end hairstyling appliances from Lion Capital LLP for $510 million in cash. The transaction will be funded with a combination of cash on hand and available debt facilities. Upon closing, the acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to Coty’s earnings and is set to close by the end of 2016.
 
ghd is headquartered in London and has commercial operations in the United Kingdom, Australia, the US, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and several other markets. The company has been expanding from its core salon channel into premium retail and e-commerce. ghd will become part of the Coty Professional Beauty division, where it will be managed as a standalone business led by its current CEO Anthony Davey and management team. Anthony Davey will report to Sylvie Moreau, President of Coty Professional Beauty.
 
The addition of ghd’s (which stands for Good Hair Day) market-leading and high-performance lines of hair straighteners, hairdryers, curlers and other hairstyling appliances is expected to further strengthen Coty’s worldwide leading position in the professional hair category, the company contends.
 
Commenting on the news, Camillo Pane, Coty chief executive officer, said: “We are pleased to bring ghd’s highly skilled management team and its employees into Coty as we continue to strengthen our core business through the addition of innovative market-leading brands and products. ghd has beautifully designed and superior performing products, and is the preferred choice for discerning professionals and consumers alike. Not only do we expect ghd to strengthen our professional hair portfolio and enable Coty to provide even better hair solutions, but we also believe there is strong growth potential for ghd across several markets.”