All six members of our Beauty & Personal Care team just got back from a few very full days at Cosmoprof in Las Vegas. In addition to countless meetings on and off the trade show floor, we hosted a well-attended cocktail party at Border Grill, where old friends and new friends gathered for drinks, conversation and fun.
Some of the themes and topics heard over and over again included:
- Rash of recent billion dollar beauty care acquisitions, including Dollar Shave Club by Unilever; OGX by Johnson & Johnson; and It Cosmetics by L’Oreal (which was announced as the conference was kicking off);
- Reemergence of strategic buyer activity with the re-entry Shiseido in the M&A game and the recent aggressive acquisition moves by J&J and Unilever;
- Continued and growing private equity appetite for beauty and personal care deals; and
- Explosion and attention around the Korean beauty care market, as evidenced by recent investments from Bain Capital, Goldman Sachs, and L Capital Asia (each of which was announced just days before the show).
Andrew Colmar, Intrepid Associate, on the COSMOPROF Las Vegas 2016 showroom floor.
To top off a great event, we had a chance to catch up with some old friends and new friends at our well-attended after event party. We celebrated with former clients like: Dave Berglass from L’ANZA who won three NAHA awards, spent time with the Chatters and LORAC teams, and witnessed an amazing and bigger than ever booth by our friends at JD Beauty/WetBrush.
What a time to be part of this exciting industry!