Suitors Line Up for Sanex

Unilever’s forced sale of the Sanex deodorant and bodywash business it acquired late last year is drawing bids and interest from rival consumer-product companies such as Procter & Gamble,Henkel AG and Colgate-Palmolive, people familiar with the matter said.

The maker of Dove soap, which gained Sanex as part of the 1.21 billion-euro ($1.69 billion) acquisition in December of Sara Lee Corp.’s international toiletries business, is in advanced talks to sell the brand for as much as $1 billion and a transaction may be completed in the next few weeks, said these people, who asked not to be named because the talks are private.

Unilever, based in London and Rotterdam, agreed to sell Sanex to allay competition concerns from the European Union. The maker of Knorr soup didn’t want to sell the business, because Sanex was the brand it wanted most, according to the people.

Sanex was “the biggest jewel brand in the whole Sara Lee basket,” said MF Global analyst Andy Smith in London. “It’s a massive loss because it’s the whole reason why they did the deal in the first place. It’s a huge embarrassment for them.”

Competitive bidding from a number of large consumer-product firms may allow Unilever to fetch $900 million to $1 billion for the business, said the people. That’s a higher price than had been expected and may offset concerns the required sale would lead to a lower price and leave Unilever with the less-desired units, the people said.

P&G, Henkel and Colgate have talked with Unilever about acquiring Sanex, according to the people. Johnson & Johnson and L’Oréalhave also expressed interest and could make a second- round bid as well, said two of the people.

Second-round bids for Sanex, which had sales of 168 million euros in the year ended June 2009, are due next week, said three of the people. Unilever aims to complete the sale by the end of the month or in early April, two of the people said. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is running the sale process for Unilever, they said.


Neither Unilever, nor the Sanex suitors would comment.

Unilever Chief Executive Officer Paul Polman, the first outsider to lead the company, broke a nine-year stretch with no major acquisitions by offering to buy the Sara Lee unit, which includes more than 90 brands in 19 European countries. Unilever, which aims to double its sales, sees the majority of future growth led by emerging markets and health and personal-care products.

Unilever is currently in the process of acquiring Alberto Culver Co., adding hair-care products including Nexxus and TRESemme, for $3.7 billion in cash, its biggest deal in a decade.