Colgate to acquire Unilver's Sanex for $940 million

[News_Editor]

Colgate to acquire Unilver's Sanex for $940 million

2011-03-24 07:35:29 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) -- Colgate-Palmolive Company on Wednesday announced the acquisition of Unilever's Sanex personal care brand in Europe for €672 million (approximately $940 million) in cash.

Colgate's acquisition comes as part of its strategy to focus on its higher-margin oral care, personal care and pet nutrition businesses and is expected close in the second quarter of the year.

Sanex is a premium-priced personal care brand positioned around healthy skin and strong market share positions in Europe. This acquisition is expected to strengthen Colgate's important personal care business in Europe.

Sanex is a multi-category personal care brand with 2010 net sales of €187 million ($260 million), primarily in Western Europe. Liquid body cleansing and deodorants each represent nearly 50 percent of the business.

"Sanex is a very strong brand that we have admired for a long time," said Ian Cook, Colgate's Chairman, President and CEO. "We are delighted that this acquisition will strengthen Colgate's positions in the shower gel and deodorant categories in several key countries in Europe and our overall personal care business in that region."

In connection with the Sanex acquisition, Colgate has agreed to sell its laundry detergent business in Colombia to Unilever for $215 million.

"The Sanex acquisition and the divestment of our detergent business in Colombia are both consistent with Colgate's ongoing strategy to de-emphasize non-core portions of our portfolio while focusing on our high-margin, strategically important oral care, personal care and pet nutrition businesses," Cook continued.

These transactions are expected to have an accretive effect, on a combined basis, of approximately 4 percent on total company earnings this year due entirely to the one-time gain on the detergent business sale and a positive effect on earnings in 2012 of approximately 1 percent from growth and efficiencies of the Sanex business.

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