Edgewell Personal Care Company has entered into a definitive agreement under which it will acquire Harry's in a cash and stock transaction that values the indie razor company at $1.37 billion.
 
The combination of Edgewell and Harry's brings together complementary capabilities to create a next-generation consumer products platform with an expansive runway for accelerated topline growth and enhanced value creation, said Edgewell.
Together, the firms will create a platform that enables building and scaling the “next generation of impactful consumer brands.”
 
Edgewell's global scale and infrastructure will help introduce Harry's brands into new markets.
 
Andy Katz-Mayfield and Jeff Raider, Harry's co-founders and co-CEOs, have agreed to join the executive team of Edgewell at closing and will serve as  co-presidents of US operations.
 
The combined company will access Edgewell's exceptional product technology to continue building on Harry's shave and personal care products. In addition, with Edgewell's global scale and infrastructure, the combined company will introduce Harry's proven brands into new markets.
 
"The combination of Edgewell and Harry's is a pivotal step forward in further transforming our organization and strengthening our competitive position and ability to drive sustained growth and value creation," said Rod Little, Edgewell's president and CEO. "Building on Edgewell's and Harry's complementary strengths, our combined company will have leading brands and omni-channel capabilities that are essential to meet the needs of the modern consumer and win in today's market environment. We welcome Harry's entrepreneurial employees and look forward to working closely with Andy and Jeff, whose ingenuity and demonstrated success will enable us to take our US business to the next level. We are excited about our future and the opportunities we have to deliver superior long-term shareholder returns as a next-generation CPG platform." 
 
Katz-Mayfield and Raider launched Harry's six years ago to “create a grooming brand that better met our needs as consumers, and over time, a CPG platform that creates brands people love across more categories.”
 
In a statement from the pair, they said that with Edgewell, we see a significant opportunity to continue delivering on that vision, leveraging Edgewell's advanced technology and global footprint alongside our customer-first approach, brand building expertise and omni-channel capabilities. We're incredibly proud of the brands we've created and the team we've built, and have tremendous respect for Edgewell and its established brand portfolio. We look forward to what we can accomplish together."
 
According to Andrew Stablein, research analyst at Euromonitor International, the move “highlights an addition to Edgewell’s recently struggling shaving lineup of Schick and Wilkinson, which have historically ranked No. 2 in the US razor market. "The deal also shows a further shift towards consolidation in the US razor market, considering Unilever’s acquisition of Dollar Shave Club in 2016 and Procter & Gamble’s acquisition of Bevel in late 2018," he said.