After two decades of business, Maesa has sold its EMEA entity to Knowlton Development Corporation (KDC/one), Inc. which creates custom-made formulations, designs packaging and offers manufacturing solutions for various beauty and personal care brands.
The new organisation will combine kdc/one’s packaging and formulation expertise with Maesa EMEA’s trends, innovation and marketing insights.
Maesa, which is said to be the industry’s biggest mass-market beauty incubator, said it is “doubling down on its core business”, which comprises global brands, including Kristin Ess, Being Frenshe, Hairitage by Mindy McKnight and its most recent launch, a fragrance brand Fine’ry.
The company also started life as a private label product manufacturer before it incubating a range of trend-led brands.
New focus on innovation and customer experience
CEO Piyush Jain said he believes that kdc/one is “the right partner to support this team’s next chapter of growth.”
He said the transaction would “strengthen Maesa’s focus on innovation and redefining the consumer experience in beauty” by leading innovation for the existing brand portfolio and to launch new brands.
“This strategic move will enable Maesa to continue to accelerate our rapid growth globally,” said Piyush.
President at Maesa EMEA, Olga Nazarkova, said kdc/one shared Maesa’s focus on innovation and that the partnership would enable Maesa “to access new capabilities, accelerate our development, and offer better service to customers.”
A shift toward private label manufacturing?
As technology and science evolve at a rapid speed, the industry may see more mergers between private label manufacturers and other beauty and personal care businesses in the near future.
The announcement comes just a few weeks after the Swiss-Swedish beauty company Oriflame announced that it would be closing it’s Poland-based factory and outsourcing all production to private-label manufacturers based throughout Europe.
