Edgewell Personal Care to acquire shave brand Harry’s

5/9/2019
Edgewell Personal Care is growing its brand porfolio. The Shelton, Conn.-based company has announced a definitive agreement that will see it combine with Harry’s in a $1.37 billion cash-and-stock transaction.

Through this combination, the companies said they will look to bring together their complementary capabilities to create a next-generation product platform with potential for growth and value creation.

"The combination of Edgewell and Harry's is a pivotal step forward in further transforming our organization and strengthening our competitive position and ability to drive sustained growth and value creation,” said Rod Little, Edgewell's president and CEO. "Building on Edgewell's and Harry's complementary strengths, our combined company will have leading brands and omnichannel capabilities that are essential to meet the needs of the modern consumer and win in today's market environment. We welcome Harry's entrepreneurial employees and look forward to working closely with Andy and Jeff, whose ingenuity and demonstrated success will enable us to take our U.S. business to the next level. We are excited about our future and the opportunities we have to deliver superior long-term shareholder returns as a next-generation CPG platform."

As part of the combination, Edgewell — which makes the Schick brand of razors — and Harry’s said they are looking to create a platform that enables building and scaling the next generation of impactful consumer brands.

"When we launched Harry's six years ago our vision was to create a grooming brand that better met our needs as consumers, and over time, a CPG platform that creates brands people love across more categories. Together with Edgewell, we see a significant opportunity to continue delivering on that vision, leveraging Edgewell's advanced technology and global footprint alongside our customer-first approach, brand building expertise and omnichannel capabilities," Andy Katz-Mayfield and Jeff Raider, the co-founders and co-CEOs of Harry's, said.

Under the terms of the agreement, approximately 79% of the total value of the transaction will be paid in cash and 21% will be paid in Edgewell common stock. Upon completion of the transaction, Harry's shareholders will own approximately 11% of Edgewell, the companies said.

Analyst Chris Perry of Edge by Ascential projected big potential from the transaction.

“While Harry’s is a digitally-native brand, this strategic acquisition provides Edgewell with the potential for accelerated growth globally. In the U.S., it gives them an even more valuable partnership with Target, which has already brought Harry’s and several other direct-to-consumer brands exclusively in-store — ultimately at the expense of some traditional brand leaders — to differentiate their assortment and in-store shopper experience," Perry said. “Another advantage for Edgewell is having a recent and extremely relevant case study of the Dollar Shave Club acquisition by Unilever to leverage and outperform through the integration and demand acceleration.”
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