Coty Buys Majority Stake in Younique
New York – January 10, 2017 – Coty Inc. announced today that it has entered into a partnership with the Founders of Younique, a leading online peer-to-peer social selling platform in beauty. Under the proposed agreement, Coty intends to acquire 60% of Younique while the Founders will own the remaining 40%. Younique's Founder and current CEO, Derek Maxfield, and Chief Visionary Officer, Melanie Huscroft, will continue to lead the business in the new partnership.
Younique was founded in 2012 in the United States by siblings Derek Maxfield and Melanie Huscroft, with a mission to uplift, empower and validate women across the globe. Younique's innovative makeup and skin care products are sold through its disruptive peer-to-peer e-commerce platform. This platform enables Younique's community of independent presenters to leverage social media in marketing and distributing Younique's line of innovative beauty products directly to consumers. Younique's highly scalable technology platform is built for mobile-first e-commerce and seamless global expansion, with approximately 200,000 active presenters and over 4.1 million consumers in 10 countries, including the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Mexico, France, Spain and Hong Kong. Younique expects to generate approximately $400 million in net revenues in 2016.
This partnership will combine Younique's high growth e-commerce platform and social selling direct-to-consumer business model with Coty's beauty product R&D and innovation know-how, as well as its extensive manufacturing and supply chain capabilities. Together, Younique and Coty expect to accelerate the product offering and geographical expansion of Younique.
Coty will acquire a 60% stake of Younique for approximately $600 million in cash which will be funded through a combination of cash on hand and available debt facilities with marginal impact on Coty's leverage ratio. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close during Coty's 2017 fiscal third quarter. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Coty's top-line growth, EBITDA margin and FY17 earnings.
Camillo Pane, Coty's Chief Executive Officer, said, "Derek and Melanie are tremendous entrepreneurs who have built one of the most engaging and fastest growing e-commerce companies in beauty. Alongside the rest of Younique's team and in partnership with their presenters, they have been able to impact the lives of millions of consumers across a number of countries with a mission to uplift and empower women. We look forward to working with them to continue supporting this mission and building Younique into a leading global e-commerce beauty company."
Derek Maxfield, Younique's CEO and Founder, said, "We are thrilled to have Coty as a partner and expect that together we will be able to take Younique to new heights. Coty and Younique share a passion for beauty, an entrepreneurial spirit, as well as complementary missions. I am very excited about this partnership and everything it can bring to Younique's employees, presenters and loyal consumers across the world."
Younique will operate as a separate business within Coty's Consumer Beauty division. It will continue to be led by its current CEO, Derek Maxfield, Chief Visionary Officer, Melanie Huscroft, and Younique's management team, in partnership with Coty.
Coty is proud to support the further advancement of the Younique Foundation and its mission to support and empower victims of sexual abuse and their families.
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