P&G Purchases Fekkai HairCare Line

According to Women's Wear Daily (WWD) Haircare giant Procter & Gamble (P&G) announced Tuesday, March 25, 2008 that it has signed an agreement to purchase Frédéric Fekkai & Co.

Fekkai, which has been described as "the ultimate in luxury hair care" offers a range of innovative hair & beauty products and exclusive, full-service salons. The Company's product line up is distributed in the finest beauty retailers as well as in its salons. Fekkai is one of the most well regarded and celebrated names in beauty and hairstyling.

"We weren't playing in the prestige department store hair care portfolio -and this fits in well with our intentions to do so," a P&G spokeswoman said.

P&G acquired the brand from Catterton Partners, a consumer-focused private equity firm. The brand had been managed by Chrysallis, one of Catterton Partners' management companies. "Fekkai is the leading hair care brand in the US prestige channel. It is a fantastic addition to P&G's already strong global portfolio of Retail and Professional Hair Care Brands," said Craig Bahner, P&G's Vice President and General Manager for North America Hair Care.

While terms of the deal were not announced, Fekkai told WWD in late November that his brand was on track to achieve revenues of about $100 million in 2007, including salon and product sales.

"We are lucky to be in luxury products, and we are benefiting from the great growth that they have seen in the last two years," Fekkai said in November. "We are growing double digits every year. Let's not forget that we are a brand, the only luxury brand in hair today that is national."

Fekkai's hair products are sold in Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Sephora stores, among other prestige stores, in the U.S. Fekkai operates salons in New York City, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Dallas and Palm Beach (Florida), with more planned, including one opening this spring in Greenwich (Connecticut).

The acquisition would add to P&G's line of upscale beauty products that includes SK-II skin care and Hugo Boss fragrances. The company, whose biggest-selling brands include Pantene and Head & Shoulders shampoos, along with professional haircare brands including Wella, Clairol, Sebastian and Graham Webb.