Anglo-Dutch consumer products company Unilever has agreed to buy U.S. beauty care company Alberto Culver for $3.7 billion, according to news reports.
Alberto Culver is “part owned by the family of founder Leonard Lavin and … dates its roots back more than 50 years,”
the
Wall Street Journal
reported.
The company’s sales for the fiscal year that ended in September 2009 were $1.4 billion. The
Journal
article said:
Mr. Lavin, a horse-racing enthusiast who turns 91 [in October], founded the company in 1955 and took it public six years later. Today he sits on the board after relinquishing management of the company in 1994. Alberto Culver’s executive chairman now is Carol Lavin Bernick, his daughter. Together, they own more than 14% of the company, according to the most recent proxy filing late last year.
Alberto Culver, based in Melrose Park, Ill., makes TRESemme, Nexxus and Alberto VO5 hair products, as well as St. Ives and Noxzema skin-care products. According to the
Journal
report:
Unilever said in a statement that the acquisition makes it the world’s leading company in hair conditioning, the second largest in shampoo and the third largest in styling.
(Source:
Wall Street Journal,
Sept. 27, 2010.)
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