Intrepid Advises Gemspring Capital on its Acquisition of Creative Laboratories and United Hair Care

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Intrepid Investment Bankers, a leading middle-market investment bank and the advisory arm of global financial group, MUFG, announced today that it acted as the exclusive buyside advisor to Gemspring Capital Management, LLC (“Gemspring”) on the acquisition of Creative Laboratories, LLC and United Hair Care, LLC (collectively, “Creative Labs”). Headquartered in Eagan, Minnesota, Creative Labs is a premier developer, manufacturer, and provider of branded and contract-manufactured hair and skin care products.

Creative Laboratories: 35+ Year Family History

With its family-owned and operated roots dating back to 1988, Creative Labs is a vertically integrated platform of nine high-growth hair, skin, and tanning brands sold across the professional, retail, and eCommerce channels. The company also provides full-service contract manufacturing to third-party brands encompassing R&D, product testing, large-scale manufacturing, bottling and labeling, packaging, marketing, and branding.

Creative Labs

The Next Chapter

Creative Labs’s partnership with Gemspring provides institutional resources and expertise to further scale its foundation and help accelerate the growth of its brands. Creative Labs is well-positioned to capitalize on several near-term opportunities including product expansion and deeper penetration across all channels, alongside complementary add-on acquisitions.

Tombstone LargeHeard from the Client

“We are grateful for Intrepid’s tenacious efforts in helping us get the deal across the finish line and are excited for what’s in store next,” said Kristin Steen, Managing Director at Gemspring Capital. “Intrepid’s expertise in the beauty and personal care industry along with their significant debt advisory capabilities were instrumental in the success of this transaction. Their guidance was both effective and invaluable, ensuring a seamless and highly beneficial outcome for all parties involved.”

The Bottom Line

Intrepid’s Capital Advisory and Beauty, Personal Care & Wellness teams joined arms to provide Gemspring with a comprehensive buyside advisory solution for its acquisition of Creative Labs. “By combining deep industry knowledge in the beauty sector with global access to institutional capital, the team was able to deliver an outstanding result for both Gemspring and Creative Labs,” said Jonathan Zucker, Head of Capital Advisory at Intrepid. “We think the partnership of Gemspring and Creative Labs creates a truly differentiated platform in the beauty care industry and are excited to see what they can build together,” added Steve Davis and Lauren Antion Hansen, Co-Heads of the Beauty, Personal Care & Wellness team at Intrepid.

Deal Team

Steve Nelson, Managing Director – Head of Sponsor Coverage

Jonathan Zucker, Managing Director – Head of Capital Advisory

Steve Davis, Managing Director – Co-Head of Beauty, Personal Care & Wellness

Lauren Antion Hansen, Director – Co-Head of Beauty, Personal Care & Wellness

Bryce Cutrino, Vice President – Beauty, Personal Care & Wellness

Stephen Senior, Associate – Capital Advisory

Media Contact

Mike Monroe, Head of Marketing 

About Intrepid Investment Bankers

Intrepid is a specialty investment bank focusing on M&A and capital advisory services for middle market companies. ​Our own entrepreneurial roots, combined with MUFG (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group), one of the largest financial institutions in the world, unlocks the best of both worlds for our clients: human-centric investment banking at a global scale. ​

Our unique culture attracts, develops and retains the best talent in the industry. Through client-centered deal making, best-in-class market intelligence, global capital resources and extensive access to acquirers and capital providers, our bankers work tenaciously to deliver the value in your business beyond conventional metrics.

About Intrepid’s Capital Advisory Team

Intrepid’s Capital Advisory Group enables founders, management teams, and financial sponsors to access institutional capital across all forms of debt and equity to execute mission-critical transactions. We are experts at solving complex capital structure needs for our clients, and have global access to capital sources including banks, direct lenders, hedge funds, family offices, and private equity institutions.

About Intrepid’s Beauty, Personal Care & Wellness Team

Intrepid is one of the most active mergers and acquisitions advisors in the Beauty, Personal Care & Wellness sector. Our team has a deep understanding of trends and value drivers across the sector, ongoing dialogue with the acquirer and investor universe, and a proven track record of helping clients sell to global strategic acquirers and value-added private equity groups. 

About Gemspring Capital

Gemspring Capital, a Westport, Connecticut-based private equity firm with $3.8 billion of capital under management, provides flexible capital solutions to middle market companies. Gemspring partners with talented management teams and takes a partnership approach to helping drive revenue growth, value creation and sustainable competitive advantages. Target companies have up to $1 billion in revenue and are in the business services, consumer services, financial and insurance services, healthcare, industrials, software, and tech-enabled services sectors.