Coty has announced that it has completed the merger of several of Procter & Gamble’s beauty brands into its portfolio – collectively known as the P&G Specialty Beauty Business. The merger makes Coty the third-largest beauty company in the world, with US$9 billion in revenue. The merger will also push Coty to the number one spot in fragrances, third in color cosmetics and second in salon hair.
Camillo Pane is now officially CEO of the combined company. “It is my great privilege to take over the reins of leadership at such a transformational moment,” he said. “Today marks a new chapter in Coty’s rich heritage. With this merger, we have bought together a powerful portfolio of much loved beauty brands and some of the world’s most talented people in beauty and consumer goods. I believe this combination, together with our distinctive entrepreneurial culture, focused and lean operating structure, and efficient earnings model, will enable Coty to be a challenger in the beauty industry. We aim to relentlessly pursue superior products and solutions, build brands that inspire and enable consumers to celebrate and liberate their own individual beauty.”
Going forward, Coty will be divided into three divisions: Coty Consumer Beauty, Coty Luxury and Coty Professional Beauty. The former encompasses color cosmetics, retail hair color and styling, body care and mass market fragrances, including brands such as adidias, CoverGirl, Clairol, David Beckham and Bourjois. Coty Luxury spans prestige fragrances and skin care and comprises the Marc Jacobs, Hugo Boss, Gucci, Lancaster and philosophy brands, among others. Coty Professional Beauty will cover salon hair and nail care brands, for example Wella Professionals, Nioxin, OPI and Sebastian Professional.
The now considerably larger US beauty giant anticipates cost savings of US$750 million, or 16 percent of acquired revenues through synergies. Some 10,000 staff have transferred from P&G to Coty, leaving P&G with a total headcount of 95,000.
“This effectively completes the major work we undertook two years ago to streamline and strengthen our portfolio,” said P&G CEO David Taylor. “We are now focused on 10 product categories and about 65 brands where P&G has leading market positions and where product technologies deliver performance differences that matters most to consumers.”
