By Abigail Summerville
NEW YORK, Sept 8 (Reuters) – The owner of Arthea, the personal care platform whose products include bath and body brand Dr. Teal’s, is exploring a sale that could value the platform at around $2 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners is working with investment banks Moelis and William Blair on the potential sale of privately held Arthea, formerly known as PDC Brands, the people said, requesting anonymity to discuss a private matter. Talks are at an early stage, they said.
CVC and Moelis declined to comment. Arthea and William Blair did not respond to comment requests.
Should a deal for Arthea be completed, it would be one of the more notable transactions in what has been a busy year for the personal care industry.
While talks for a blockbuster combination of Estee Lauder and Puig fell apart, L’Oreal completed its $4.7 billion deal for Kering’s beauty unit in March, Henkel acquired hair care brand Olaplex for $1.4 billion, and Advent agreed to buy body care brand Salt & Stone for an undisclosed amount.
OPI nail polish owner Wella Company, backed by KKR, filed for a U.S. IPO last week, in another signal of public-market investor interest in consumer brands.
Last month, PDC, which stood for Parfums de Coeur, changed its name to Arthea, drawing from the words art and healing. It also announced a new body care brand aimed at tweens called Sunryz.
CVC acquired PDC from Yellow Wood Partners for $1.43 billion in 2017.
Founded in 1981, White Plains, New York-based Arthea owns bath and body product brands Dr. Teal’s and Bodycology, fragrance makers Body Fantasies and BOD Man, and textured hair care brand Cantu. Its products are sold in more than 80 countries, according to its website.
Based in Luxembourg, CVC’s private equity platform manages €115 billion ($131.4 billion) of assets.
($1 = 0.8753 euros)
(Reporting by Abigail Summerville in New York; Editing by David French and David Gaffen)
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