{"id":721,"date":"2026-08-25T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andreeamelinti.com\/?p=721"},"modified":"2026-08-27T21:31:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T21:31:48","slug":"kkr-buys-into-japans-beauty-boom-with-ci-flavors-deal-as-l-catterton-exits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andreeamelinti.com\/?p=721","title":{"rendered":"KKR buys into Japan&#8217;s beauty boom with Ci FLAVORS deal as L Catterton exits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>KKR agreed to acquire Ci FLAVORS, one of Japan&#8217;s leading beauty and lifestyle brand platforms, from a group of shareholders led by the consumer specialist L Catterton.<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/@andreeamelinti\"><\/a>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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ci FLAVORS is the holding company for Cosme Company, founded by Yusaku Horiuchi in 2011 and built on the principle of understanding customers\u2019 demands better than anyone else.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The crown jewel is &amp;honey. Made by subsidiary ViCREA, &amp;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\u2019s recent beauty wave.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCi FLAVORS has built a differentiated position in Japan\u2019s beauty market through its consumer-focused product development capabilities and diversified portfolio of brands,\u201d 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 \u201cfurther expansion across international markets\u201d.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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\u2019s Japan president, Norbert Leuret, as a senior adviser to Ci FLAVORS.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Taka Shimizu, a Managing Partner at L Catterton, said its original thesis had been Ci FLAVORS\u2019 ability to solidify its lead in Japan and expand abroad, adding: \u201cIt has been a privilege to work alongside Ci FLAVORS\u2019 founder and management team on this journey, and we are confident that the Company is well positioned for further growth under KKR\u2019s ownership.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Originally published <a href=\"https:\/\/peinsights.substack.com\/p\/kkr-buys-into-japans-beauty-boom?r=52yc09&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;showWelcomeOnShare=true\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KKR agreed to acquire Ci FLAVORS, one of Japan&#8217;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.\u00a0 L Catterton, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[19],"tags":[20,18,10],"class_list":["post-721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-portfolio","tag-beauty","tag-business","tag-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>KKR buys into Japan&#039;s beauty boom with Ci FLAVORS deal as L Catterton exits - Andreea Melinti<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/andreeamelinti.com\/?p=721\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"KKR buys into Japan&#039;s beauty boom with Ci FLAVORS deal as L Catterton exits - Andreea Melinti\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"KKR agreed to acquire Ci FLAVORS, one of Japan&#8217;s leading beauty and lifestyle brand platforms, from a group of shareholders led by the consumer specialist L Catterton. 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