01.25.24
Yellow Wood Partners’ portfolio company Suave Brands Company has signed a binding offer to acquire the ChapStick brand from Haleon.
The transaction is intended to close in the first half of 2024 upon completion of customary closing and regulatory approvals.
Yellow Wood Partners is a Boston-based private equity firm focused on investing in consumer brands and companies. ChapStick marks Yellow Wood’s fifth corporate carveout transaction in four years.
Yellow Wood Partners is a Boston-based private equity firm focused on investing in consumer brands and companies. ChapStick marks Yellow Wood’s fifth corporate carveout transaction in four years.
“The Yellow Wood team established Suave Brands Company in May 2023 to acquire the Suave brand from Unilever. We saw the opportunity to grow Suave with a more focused management approach while also creating the corporate infrastructure to acquire and manage additional personal care brands across multiple categories to drive synergies across the platform,” said Suave Brands Company CEO Daniel Alter. “We are excited to add ChapStick, another leading brand with deep equity and history, into our platform. At Suave Brands Company, our management team is focused on building a platform of category-leading brands that consumers love while working with our retail customers and manufacturing partners to grow the brands.”
ChapStick invented the lip care category in the 1880s with the launch of a now-iconic lip balm that made ChapStick a household name. For more than a century, ChapStick has added products to its portfolio with innovative new ingredients, skincare benefits, and flavors. Today, ChapStick is the leader in lip care and synonymous with the product category – it is the reported #1 brand by volume and has over 80% brand awareness, per the firm.
Yellow Wood’s diverse portfolio of consumer brands also includes global footcare brands Dr. Scholl’s and Scholl International; Beacon Wellness Brands, led by its anchor brand PlusOne, a leading sexual wellness device brand; beauty brands Real Techniques and EcoTools; skincare brand Byoma, and self-tanning brands Isle of Paradise, Tanologist and TanLuxe. In December, Yellow Wood announced the pending acquisition of the Elida Beauty portfolio of brands from Unilever. This platform includes leading brands such as Q-Tips, Caress, TiGi, Ponds, St. Ives, and Noxzema, as well as European brands including Brut, Impulse, Monsavon, and Timotei.