Unilever Considers $1 Billion Bid for Skincare Brand

(Bloomberg) -- Consumer goods giant Unilever is considering a $1 billion offer for U.S. skin-care brand Drunk Elephant, the Sunday Telegraph reported, without saying where it got the information.

Drunk Elephant, founded in 2012 by Texan mother-of-four Tiffany Masterson and which makes skin-care products with natural, nontoxic ingredients, hired investment banks in January to explore a sale, according to the Wall Street Journal. Unilever declined to comment on the potential offer to the Sunday Telegraph.

The Anglo-Dutch owner of Dove soap, has been expanding into new areas as its traditional brands stagnate. It’s been snapping up niche labels in divisions such as vegan and organic food, while shedding stagnant business like its spreads unit, which the company sold in 2018.

New CEO Alan Jope is also seeking to boost profitability by assembling a division called Prestige with high-end skin-care brands such as Ren and Dermalogica.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Mayes in London at jmayes9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rebecca Penty at rpenty@bloomberg.net, Neil Chatterjee, Nick Rigillo

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