WESTPORT, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tengram Capital Partners, a middle-market private equity firm, announced today the sale of HRB Brands (“HRB”) to Sodalis Group (“Sodalis”), a European-based beauty and personal care platform.
HRB is a leading hair care and skin cleansing business comprised of twenty iconic and well-known brands including Alberto VO5®, Zest®, Coast®, Brut®, Pert®, Sure®, Zero Frizz®, Rave®, SGX NYC®, and Thicker Fuller Hair®, among others. HRB’s brands are present in over 30 million households across the Americas and enjoy deep consumer loyalty for their quality at accessible price points.
Tengram acquired HRB in April 2020. During Tengram’s ownership, HRB completed four strategic transactions, expanding its geographic footprint to Latin America and adding to its brand portfolio. In addition, HRB made significant investments in management, operational infrastructure, and service offerings to extend its market leadership and drive strong growth.
“HRB represents the culmination of four years of effort and is emblematic of a classic deal profile: great management supported by our own in-house expertise enabled by nimble capital and expert M&A. We are very grateful for the opportunity to work with Jim and his team through a challenging COVID restructuring and subsequent accelerated growth,” said William Sweedler, Managing Partner of Tengram and Windsong. “After tremendous effort over four years, we are pleased to deliver outsized returns to our loyal investors. We wish Jim and the Sodalis Group every success and fully expect them to take HRB to a new level of performance.”
Jim Daniels, CEO of HRB commented, “I would like to thank Bill and the Tengram/Windsong team who have been a tremendous partner to HRB and instrumental in developing and executing our organic and acquisition growth strategies. Becoming part of the Sodalis Group provides a very exciting new chapter for us. Our combined teams are already working well together to leverage each other’s talents and brand portfolios to rapidly grow our combined European, North and Latin America businesses. We are excited to channel our experience to set a new path within the Sodalis galaxy towards ever more ambitious goals.”
Fabio Granata, CEO of Sodalis Group, said: “With this acquisition, what seemed like a crazy dream becomes reality: Sodalis enters the American market with a direct affiliate. It is a great transformation for our company, born in a small Italian province, now expanding to the United States market. We believe in an important growth plan for Sodalis USA both for the evolution of the current business and as a great platform to launch our European power brands in North America and South America and to complete new acquisitions.”
Lincoln International LLC and Cascadia Capital LLC are serving as financial advisors and Sidley Austin LLP is serving as legal counsel to HRB. PWC served as financial advisor and Greenburg Traurig, LLP served as advisors to Sodalis Group.
ABOUT TENGRAM CAPITAL PARTNERS:
Tengram Capital Partners and its predecessor and successor Windsong Global, are private equity firms exclusively focused on investments in leading middle market consumer companies that own strong recognizable brands. The team has a diverse background of consumer investing and in-house operating expertise that assists and guides company management to unlock the true potential of their brands. Tengram and Windsong invest in traditional "growth", but also in "restructuring/turnaround" and “carve-out” situations. Other investments, current and past, include Robert Graham, Joes Jeans, Hudson Jeans, Algenist Beauty, Revive Beauty, Tommie Copper Wellness, DevaCurl Haircare, NEST Fragrances, JVN Beauty, Marth Stewart, Jessica Simpson, Pipette Baby, and Cos Bar.
Additional information can be found at: http://www.tengramcapital.com or http://www.windsongglobal.com
ABOUT HRB BRANDS
HRB Brands, headquartered in Westport, Connecticut, is one of the largest independent branded personal care companies in the United States by unit volume with a mission to craft extraordinary experiences for savvy consumers. Today, HRB Brands has a portfolio of more than a dozen trusted brands, serving primarily North American skin cleansing, hair care markets, including Zest®, Alberto VO5®, Coast®, Brut®, Zero Frizz®, Pert®, Sure®, Seabreeze®, Infusium®, LA Looks®, Rave®, SGX®, Salon Grafix®, and Thicker Fuller Hair®. For more information, please visit www.hrbbrands.com.
ABOUT SODALIS
Sodalis is the Group committed to creating Well-being through the quality, research and innovation of its brands in the world of Health & Beauty, Personal & Home Care. Today Sodalis is the Italian leader in the Cosmetics and Nutraceuticals market and one of the main independent European players in Personal Care. Active for more than 30 years and always owned by an Italian family, it is a continuously expanding, multi-brand and multi-channel, dynamic and international business reality. The Group has achieved solid and progressive growth thanks to the ability to integrate and develop new businesses. Sodalis is the home of more than 20 highly attractive and recognized proprietary brands, with strong positions in pharmacies, large-scale retail trade, e-commerce and perfumeries. The team is made up of over 1900 people and is headquartered in Lodi (Italy), has 5 international branches with offices in France, Germany, Portugal and Spain, 5 research laboratories and 5 cutting-edge production sites, located in Italy, France and Germany.
Its Business Units include:
- Pharma Health & Beauty, with the brands BioNike, leader in dermocosmetics in pharmacies, Esi, one of the main Italian companies in the nutraceutical market, and Goovi, a digital native wellness brand.
- Consumer Personal Care, whose most important brands include Tesori d'Oriente, Vidal, Lycia, Fresh&Clean, Leocrema, CD, Natural Honey, Wash&Go
- Consumer Beauty, with well-known make-up, hair care and skin care brands such as Artdeco, Deborah Milano, Biopoint, Dermolab and Debby
- Home Care, whose main brands include L'Arbre Vert, the #1 eco-friendly brand in France, Cristasol, Super Pop and Mistolin, leaders in the reference market in Spain and Portugal.
Sodalis achieves a double net turnover of 840 million euros.
Please visit: www.sodalisgroup.com.