Unilever today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its North American laundry business in US, Canada and Puerto Rico to Vestar Capital Partners.
This business will be merged with Huish Detergents Inc. ("Huish"), majority owned by Vestar since April 2007, to create a new company which will be named The Sun Products Corporation ("Sun Products"), with annual sales of more than $2 billion.
The consideration consists of a cash payment of $1.075 billion, together with preferred shares in The Sun Products Corporation with a face value of $375 million, and warrants offering the opportunity to acquire up to 2.5% of the common equity of The Sun Products Corporation.
The US, Canada and Puerto Rico laundry business generated $1.0 billion in turnover for Unilever in 2007.
The sale is part of Unilever’s previously announced plans to dispose of non-strategic brands with collectively more than €2 billion in turnover.
INFO SOURCES
Unilever; Vestar Capital Partners
FIRMS
Vestar Capital Partners is a leading global private equity firm with $7 billion in assets under management. The firm focuses on companies in the U.S., Europe and Japan with valuations of $100 million to $5 billion and operations in five key industry sectors: consumer/services, diversified industries, healthcare, media/communication, and financial services. Since the firm's founding in 1988, the Vestar funds have completed 65 investments in companies with a total value of more than $20 billion.
Huish Detergents has been producing private label laundry detergent and household cleaners since 1976. Today, the company is the largest manufacturer of private label laundry detergents and fabric softener in North America. In addition, the company produces the Sun line of branded detergent products. Huish Detergents focuses on high efficiency, low cost and high quality in the manufacture of all of its laundry products.
Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of fast-moving consumer goods with strong local roots in more than 100 countries across the globe. Its portfolio includes some of the world's best known and most loved brands including twelve EUR 1 billion brands and global leadership in many categories in which the company operates. The portfolio features brand icons such as: Knorr, Hellmann's, Lipton, Country Crock, Flora/Becel and Bertolli, as well as Dove, Lux, Pond's, Axe/Lynx and Sunsilk. Major laundry brands outside North America include Omo, Persil , Ala , Skip and Surf. Unilever has approximately 174,000 employees in approaching 100 countries and generated annual sales of over EUR 40 billion in 2007.
BRANDS
The businesses to be sold include the all®, Snuggle®, Wisk®, Surf®, and Sunlight® fabric cleaning and fabric conditioning brands in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico, as well as Unilever’s manufacturing facility in Baltimore, MD, USA.
ADVISORS
JPMorgan and Lehman Brothers Inc. acted as advisors to Vestar Capital Partners and Huish Detergents and, together with GE Capital Markets, Inc., arranged financing in connection with the transaction.
TRANSITION
Upon closing of the transaction, Neil P. DeFeo, an experienced consumer-products executive and a current Huish director, will become CEO of The Sun Products Corporation. Dan Huish, founder and chairman of Huish, will be chairman of the Board of the new company.
David P. Lundstedt, currently president and CEO of Huish, will become president of the merged business, reporting to Mr. DeFeo. William H. Littlefield, currently vice president and general manager of the Unilever business, will join The Sun Products Corporation as executive vice president and general manager of Branded Products.
The Sun Products Corporation will maintain offices in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Toronto, Canada. The merged company will have manufacturing facilities across the country including the current Unilever location in Baltimore, Maryland, which is part of this transaction.
PEOPLE
Most recently, Mr. DeFeo served as chairman and CEO of Playtex Products, Inc. until its sale in October 2007. Prior to Playtex, Mr. DeFeo was chairman and CEO of the Remington Products Company. He has also held key management positions at The Clorox Company and at The Procter & Gamble Company.
Prior to joining Huish earlier this year, Mr. Lundstedt served in several senior leadership positions with Honeywell International Inc., most recently as president of the Consumer Products Group. Before joining Honeywell in 1997, Mr. Lundstedt served as president and CEO of Prestone Products Corp.
Mr. Littlefield joined Unilever in 1981 and was appointed vice president and general manager of the North American Laundry business in 2006. During his tenure with Unilever, he served as senior vice president of Customer Development for Home and Personal Care North America and vice president, general manager of the North America Skin Care business unit.
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