KDC Owner Novacap Is Planning Beauty Products Maker's Sale

(Bloomberg) -- Canadian private equity firm Novacap is planning a sale of Knowlton Development Corp. that is expected to value the beauty and personal care products maker at more than C$1 billion ($770 million), people with knowledge of the matter said.

The buyout firm is working with an adviser on an auction process for KDC, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. A sale of KDC could be announced by the end of the year, one of the people said. The potential buyers include other private equity firms, the people said.

Representatives for Novacap and KDC didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.

Novacap, which previously invested in KDC in 2002, led a consortium that injected C$165 million into the company in 2014. KDC has since grown rapidly through acquisitions, acquiring both Aromair Fine Fragrance Co. and Northern Labs Inc. in 2017 for undisclosed sums, according to the company’s website.

KDC, based in Knowlton, Quebec, has 10 manufacturing sites that specialize in products including skin care, hair care and color cosmetics, according to its website.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kiel Porter in New York at kporter17@bloomberg.net;Gillian Tan in New York at gtan129@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, ;Alan Goldstein at agoldstein5@bloomberg.net, Michael Hytha, Matthew Monks

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