Estee Lauder To Acquire Ojon

Estée Lauder will acquire Ojon Corporation, a privately-held hair care company based in Canada. The closing is expected later this month. A purchase price was not disclosed.

Ojon markets and sells products made with ingredients collected by the Tawira, an indigenous community living in the Central American rainforest. Ojon, incorporated in 2003, markets its naturally-derived shampoos, conditioners, styling products and treatments through QVC, specialty retailers and about 300 high-end salons. The Ojon products are also available in limited distribution outside North America.

Ojon products are made with palm nut oil produced by the Tawira and help improve hair’s strength, moisture, shine and reduce breakage.In late 2006, Ojon also successfully launched Rare Harvest Tawaka Collection, a 3-SKU skin and hair care treatment line based on a wild-crafted blend of anti-oxidant rich cacao harvested in the Honduran rainforest.

“The acquisition of Ojon strengthens our position in hair care and further broadens our distribution. It should enable us to expand in the rapidly growing direct response television and specialty retailing channels,” said Philip Shearer, group president of The Estée Lauder Companies. “Natural and organic products are among the fastest growing areas in the beauty industry and Ojon has a compelling story that we believe should resonate with consumers globally.”

“Ojon is a terrific strategic fit in our portfolio,” William P. Lauder, president and chief executive officer of The Estée Lauder Companies, said. “It’s a socially responsible, innovative company with potential for rapid and sustained world-wide growth. We envision Ojon eventually becoming a global brand of wild-crafted, natural products made with ingredients found in indigenous communities around the world.”

To source its ingredients, Ojon has partnered with the Mosquitia Pawisa Agency for the Development of the Honduras Mosquitia (MOPAWI Organization), a local non-profit group that works on behalf of indigenous communities in the region. Through its contract with the MOPAWI, Ojon purchases wild-crafted palm nut oil and other ingredients from thousands of Tawira producers, who collect the ingredients in a hand-crafted process consistent with ancestral practices. The ingredients, largely palm oil and cacao, are then sent to Originitalia, a plant in northern Italy, where they are purified and blended into Ojon products.