Glansaol Established as New Prestige Beauty & Personal Care Company

NEW YORK, Dec. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Glansaol, a new prestige beauty and personal care company, announced today that it has signed agreements to acquire three brands – Laura Geller, Julep and Clark's Botanicals.  Glansaol was founded through a partnership between Alan T. Ennis, a beauty industry veteran and former President and Chief Executive Officer of Revlon Inc., and Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm focused on growth investing. The acquisition of Laura Geller is closed. Julep and Clark's Botanicals are expected to close shortly. Terms were not disclosed.  

Glansaol, which means "pure life" in the Irish language and is pronounced Glan-Sale, will operate an integrated portfolio of global beauty and personal care brands, diversified across segments, channels and geographies.

"Our objective is to build Glansaol into a world-class, global beauty and personal care company by acquiring, integrating, and growing a portfolio of premium, complementary brands, managed by a team of seasoned executives," said Alan T. Ennis, President and CEO of Glansaol.  "I am delighted to be taking this first bold step.  Each of the three brands we are acquiring today plays a specific and important role in our portfolio and will retain their individual brand autonomy and culture.  I believe that our unique long-term view of building the next great beauty company, is appealing to both brand owners and the capital markets."

"We are excited to support the acquisition of these three strong and growing brands with diversified demographics, and believe they will benefit from enhanced scale, marketing and distribution capabilities as part of the Glansaol platform," said Annette Rodriguez, Managing Director, Warburg Pincus. "Alan, along with Martine Williamson, Glansaol Chief Marketing Officer, bring invaluable insights into beauty and personal care, and we see meaningful opportunities for growth and expansion.  We look forward to investing behind Glansaol as it makes additional acquisitions of complementary brands over time."

Glansaol hand-selected Laura Geller, Julep and Clark's Botanicals to be its first acquisitions because of their inspirational founders, high quality products and unique position within the marketplace.

Laura Geller New York

Laura Geller is a leading prestige color cosmetics brand developed in 1997 by professional makeup artist, Laura Geller.  Renowned as the pioneer of the "baked" category of makeup – cult-favorite, multi-tasking powders that deliver remarkably vibrant color – and for its easy-to-use, dual-purpose products intended to simplify and improve women's makeup routines.

"The idea that Glansaol means "pure life" really resonated with me.  Together, we will create something better, bigger, and stronger.  I am greatly looking forward to the next phase of growth for the business," said Laura Geller, Founder of Laura Geller.

Elana Drell-Szyfer, CEO at Laura Geller, said, "I have known Alan for several years and have great respect for him, both personally and professionally. His broad knowledge of all facets of the industry and strong belief in brands makes him and the Glansaol team a powerful new force to be reckoned with in the industry."

Rich Gersten, Partner at Tengram Capital, who acquired a majority stake in the Laura Geller brand in 2012, stated, "It has been an absolute pleasure working with the Laura Geller team over the last four years. I am confident that Glansaol is the right partner to take this great brand to the next level."

Julep

Julep is a prestige color cosmetics and skincare brand founded by Korean-born Jane Park with the vision that beauty can be a fun and fearless experience for all women.  Her desire to bring women together led her to launch four nail parlors in Seattle in 2007, which also served as a test lab to share experiences and provide feedback on products. Julep has since evolved into a top selling, omni-channel beauty brand.  Its unique innovation process incorporates the voices of thousands of "Mavens" for online social input.

"I'm thrilled to be joining forces with Glansaol. This new venture will enable us to continue on our path of rapid growth and social innovation.  There is really no other vehicle in beauty that exists today like Glansaol, and I am confident that through the collaboration and with their deep beauty and operational knowledge, Julep will be able to realize its potential," said Jane Park, Founder, Julep.

Clark's Botanicals

Clark's Botanicals is a premium skincare brand founded in 2008 by Francesco Clark after he suffered a crippling spinal cord injury and lost the ability to walk.  With his central nervous system impaired, Francesco was afflicted with clogged pores, chronic breakouts and an inability to naturally exfoliate, which could not be remedied through traditional means.  In partnership with his father, Dr. Harold Clark, they developed a line of products containing Jasmine Absolute, a proprietary, rebalancing ingredient, and the brand has become a favorite among the beauty elite.

"Ultimately, all the Glansaol brands will benefit from each other's individual strengths. I knew Glansaol would be the only fit for Clark's Botanicals because they are more than just a business plan; they have a strong and clear long term vision for supporting brands and want products that actually work and in which people believe," said Francesco Clark, Founder, Clark's Botanicals.

Ennis concluded, "I am delighted that each of Laura, Elana, Jane, and Francesco will join me and Martine on our Glansaol leadership team.  I look forward to embarking on this exciting journey with this talented group of seasoned beauty executives."  

Glansaol has been working closely with Financo and Wells Fargo Securities in connection with the transactions.

About Glansaol
Glansaol LLC is a world-class prestige beauty and personal care company with an integrated portfolio of premium, complementary brands that include Laura Geller, Julep and Clark's Botanicals. The company was founded in New York City by CEO Alan T. Ennis in partnership with Warburg Pincus LLC.  Through Ennis' extensive beauty and personal care background, Glansaol is managed by a team of seasoned executives to deliver superior results and long-term growth acceleration. Glansaol works with individual brands to retain their brand uniqueness while collaborating together on innovation, research and ideas across brands. Through this approach, Glansaol is dedicated to providing consumers with high quality, innovative products. Glansaol means "pure life" in the Irish language and is pronounced Glan-Sale.  For more information, please visit www.glansaol.com.

About Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus LLC is a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing. The firm has more than $40 billion in private equity assets under management. The firm's active portfolio of more than 130 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector and geography. Warburg Pincus is an experienced partner to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable value. Founded in 1966, Warburg Pincus has raised 16 private equity funds, which have invested more than $58 billion in over 760 companies in more than 40 countries.  Warburg Pincus has invested more than $12.5 billion in over 200 healthcare and consumer companies.  Current and former investments in the retail and consumer goods sectors include Neiman Marcus, Wanse, REISS, Biba Apparels, Kalyan Jewellers, Kidswant, and Intime Department Store Group, among others.

The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Mauritius, San Francisco, São Paulo, Shanghai, and Singapore. For more information please visit www.warburgpincus.com. 

Contacts

Glansaol
Erin McCaffrey
[email protected] 
(347) 804-9544

Warburg Pincus
Mary Zimmerman / Christopher Beattie
(212) 878-9201

SOURCE Glansaol

Related Links

http://www.glansaol.com