KKR agreed to acquire Ci FLAVORS, one of Japan’s leading beauty and lifestyle brand platforms, from a group of shareholders led by the consumer specialist L Catterton.
Founder Yusaku Horiuchi and chief executive Yoshiaki Okura will both reinvest alongside KKR, which is making the purchase through its flagship Asia Pacific private equity strategy.
L Catterton, the largest global consumer-focused private equity firm and an investor backed by luxury group LVMH, first invested in Ci FLAVORS in 2022, and is now selling alongside eBeauty Group and Yanagi Capital Partners.
Ci FLAVORS is the holding company for Cosme Company, founded by Yusaku Horiuchi in 2011 and built on the principle of understanding customers’ demands better than anyone else.
Over the following decade it assembled a portfolio that had grown to 37 brands, sold widely through drugstores, the dominant channel for the fast-growing mid-market segment of Japanese haircare. Its line-up spans haircare, skincare, body care, and lifestyle products, with names such as 8 THE THALASSO, unlabel, THERATIS, and MOROCCAN BEAUTY, and the group also runs OEM manufacturing, direct-to-consumer and e-commerce channels, and department-store retail.
The crown jewel is &honey. Made by subsidiary ViCREA, &honey is an organic haircare brand built around nourishing ingredients such as honey and argan oil, and it has become one of the breakout drugstore hits of Japan’s recent beauty wave.
Japanese beauty, or J-beauty, is having a global moment alongside the better-known K-beauty phenomenon, with masstige haircare and skincare labels travelling from Tokyo drugstore shelves to social feeds and shelves across Asia and North America. Ci FLAVORS has ridden that wave, recording growth in overseas sales.
“Ci FLAVORS has built a differentiated position in Japan’s beauty market through its consumer-focused product development capabilities and diversified portfolio of brands,” said Eiji Yatagawa, Partner and Head of Japan Private Equity at KKR, adding that the firm would leverage its global consumer network to support growth in Japan and “further expansion across international markets”.
The acquisition slots into a consumer and beauty portfolio KKR has been building worldwide, which already includes haircare group Wella Company, beauty-and-wellness platform Fresha, Indian personal-care group Vini Cosmetics, Japanese supermarket chain Seiyu, and V3 Group, the Singapore-based owner of TWG Tea and Bacha Coffee.
L Catterton brought deep beauty credentials to the table, with a portfolio that has spanned ELEMIS, MERIT, and TULA, and it had even installed LVMH’s Japan president, Norbert Leuret, as a senior adviser to Ci FLAVORS.
Taka Shimizu, a Managing Partner at L Catterton, said its original thesis had been Ci FLAVORS’ ability to solidify its lead in Japan and expand abroad, adding: “It has been a privilege to work alongside Ci FLAVORS’ founder and management team on this journey, and we are confident that the Company is well positioned for further growth under KKR’s ownership.”
Originally published here.