The Beauty Care sector posted another fantastic quarter with 28 deals disclosed in Q3’16, just over the previous high in Q2’16. The quarter showcased deals from many of the familiar strategic acquirers of late including L’Oréal, Unilever and Johnson & Johnson. It also marked the second quarter in a row with multiple billion dollar M&A deals. With only three months left, 2016 is set to become one of the best beauty care M&A years in recent memory.
Q3’16 Beauty Care M&A highlights include:
- Deal volume rose in Q3’16 22% from Q3’15 and 4% over Q2’16.
- Unilever continued on its acquisition spree with the announcement of both Dollar Shave Club in July and Seventh Generation in September.
- L’Oréal kept pace with the $1.2 billion acquisition of IT Cosmetics and the acquisitions of Atelier Cologne and Société des Thermes de Saint-Gervais-les-Bains.
- Johnson & Johnson also continued its beauty care M&A run with a minority investment in Japanese skincare brand Dr.Ci:Labo, marking a beauty care deal in each of the past three quarters.
- K-Beauty continues to attract strong interest with announced investments in Carver Korea and Clio Cosmetics.
- Private equity continues to allocate significant dollars to the beauty care sector with deals from Tengram Capital, L Capital Asia, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs.