Our entire Beauty & Personal Care team just got back from a very busy couple of days at Cosmoprof in Las Vegas. Our schedules were packed with meetings with established and emerging brands, former and future clients, and an ever-growing group of private equity firms focused on the beauty care industry. Despite all the meetings, we did carve out time to walk the floor, catch up with industry friends, discover new brands, and uncover new beauty care trends. We also hosted our third annual Intrepid Cocktail Party at Border Grill, fostering some great conversations on the industry and deals in the market with old and new friends.
Some of the key buzz and take-aways from our busy trip included:
- Growing attendance of private equity groups at the conference with an ever-increasing desire to invest in the Beauty Care sector;
- Continued high level of M&A activity and interest both with strategic acquirers and new platforms entering the space, including the recent headline-grabbing acquisition of DevaCurl by Ares;
- Increased emergence and participation in the show of brands targeting male grooming and barbershop brands;
- The flurry of early-stage minority investments in beauty care companies with investments in younger companies becoming more and more common.
To top off a great trade show and cocktail event, we are happy to announce the recent promotion of our Beauty & Personal Care Analyst, Lauren Antion, to Associate, effective earlier this month.
We are all looking forward to a very busy year! See you next year at Cosmoprof.