Henkel announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Shiseido’s Hair Professional Business in the Asia-Pacific region, marking another addition to its portfolio of successful premium brands. The acquisition also includes renowned professional brands such as Sublimic and Primience, which are authorised by Shiseido Professional. 

As a salon-exclusive brand, Shiseido Professional offers premium hair care products including hair colouring and styling items for professional hairdressers. It is reported that Shiseido will keep a 20% stake in the legal entity in Japan to support business growth with cooperation from Henkel.

Shiseido’s Asia-Pacific Professional Hair business reportedly has accumulated sales of about 100 million euros in fiscal 2020. It has employed over 500 employees and possessed outstanding  R&D capabilities. Apart from its dominance in most parts of the Asia-Pacific region, countries like Japan, China, and South Korea are regarded as the most important markets in terms of sales share.

According to Carsten Knobel, CEO of Henkel,” As part of our strategic agenda for purposeful growth, compelling acquisitions play a key role in actively shaping our portfolio. This transaction is a step-change for Henkel’s Hair Professional business. By expanding our Professional business in Asia-Pacific, we will become one of the leading players in this highly dynamic region with attractive future growth potential. This move will also further strengthen our Hair Professional business which has already shown a very strong development in the past years and will be an integral part of our future Consumer Brands business unit.”

This acquisition indicates another milestone in Henkel’s effort to bolster the Hair Professional business. In 2014, Henkel managed to acquire three US brands namely Sexy Hair, Alterna, and Kenra. Whereas, in 2017, they completed the acquisition of Nattura Laboratorios and Shiseido’s North American Hair Professional business. 

Henkel’s Professional Hair Care business holds a leading position in numerous global market segments. In fact, its business is known amongst the three leading beauty companies in the world with an extensive portfolio of hair care brands that are created exclusively for hairdressers like Schwarzkopf Professional, Bonacure, Igora Royal and Authentic Beauty Concept.  

It generates over 1 billion euros of sales and will be an integral part of Henkel’s future Consumer Brands business unit, a new multi-category platform that will be developed by merging the Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care business units together by the latest of early 2023. 

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