Coty in advance talks to buy British hair products maker GHD for £400 mn plus

US cosmetics giant Coty Inc, is in advance talks to buy British hair products manufacturer GHD, for more than £400 million ($485 million), Sky News today reported.

British private equity firm Lion Capital, owner of GHD, had in June put the company up for sale and hired financial advisory group Rothschild to conduct the auction.

Lion Capital had acquired GHD in 2013 from Montagu Private Equity for around £300 million.

Coty, the 108 year-old company owned by Vienna-based Joh A Benckiser, the German holding company that manages the interests of the billionaire Reimann family of Germany, is reported to have outbid CVC Capital Partners and Panasonic for Leeds-based GHD.

Founded in 2001 by Martin Penny, Gary Douglas, and Robert Powls, Good Hair Day - known as GHD, manufactures hair care products like hair straighteners curling products, and hairdryers. It is a market leader in hair straightening irons.

The company's brands have been endorsed by celebrities like Victoria Beckham, Jennifer Aniston, Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow.

GHD, run by former P&G executive Anthony Davey, made £33.7 million in pre-tax profit in 2015, on sales of £181 million.

With annual turnover of around $4.6 billion, Coty was founded in Paris in 1904 by François Coty, who is credited with founding the modern fragrance industry.

The 108 year-old company develops and manufactures beauty care products that include fragrances, toiletries, and colour cosmetics, and skin care, sun care, and personal care products.
 
Its Jennifer Lopez perfume has raked in $1 billion in sales since being introduced in 2002.

The New York-based company holds a 48-per cent share of the US fragrance market and generates annual sales of around $9 billion from its over 77 brands.

The Coty brand portfolio is distributed in prestige and ultra-prestige stores and includes Calvin Klein, Davidoff, Jennifer Lopez, Sarah Jessica Parker, Adidas, Beyoncé Knowles, Celine Dion, David Beckham, Esprit, Pierre Cardin, Playboy, Shania Twain, Stetson, and Tonino Lamborghini among others.

Last June, it acquired acquire Wella hair care, Max Factor and CoverGirl makeup brands from Procter & Gamble Co for $12 billion.