Direct-to-consumer shaving startup Harry’s has agreed to be acquired by Edgewell Personal Care, the parent company to Schick and other personal care brands that include Edge, Wilkinson Sword, Banana Boat, Playtex, Stayfree, and Hawaiian Tropic. The transaction is a combination of cash and stock with over $1.08B or 79% coming in cash. “When we launched Harry’s six years ago our vision was to create a grooming brand that better met our needs as consumers, and over time, a CPG platform that creates brands people love across more categories. Together with Edgewell, we see a significant opportunity to continue delivering on that vision, leveraging Edgewell’s advanced technology and global footprint alongside our customer-first approach, brand building expertise and omnichannel capabilities. We’re incredibly proud of the brands we’ve created and the team we’ve built, and have tremendous respect for Edgewell and its established brand portfolio. We look forward to what we can accomplish together,” remarked Andy Katz-Mayfield and Jeff Raider, Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of Harry’s.
When we launched Harry’s six years ago our vision was to create a grooming brand that better met our needs as consumers, and over time, a CPG platform that creates brands people love across more categories. Together with Edgewell, we see a significant opportunity to continue delivering on that vision, leveraging Edgewell’s advanced technology and global footprint alongside our customer-first approach, brand building expertise and omni-channel capabilities. We’re incredibly proud of the brands we’ve created and the team we’ve built, and have tremendous respect for Edgewell and its established brand portfolio. We look forward to what we can accomplish together – Andy Katz-Mayfield and Jeff Raider, Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of Harry’s.
Katz-Mayfield and Raider in 2013, Harry’s had raised a total of $375.2M in reported equity funding with the last round, $112M Series D, coming in December of 2017. Investors in the company include SV Angel, Highland Capital Partners, Tiger Global Management, BoxGroup, Harrison Metal, Temasek Holdings, Thrive Capital, Brainchild Holdings, Wellington Management, Red Swan Ventures, Grace Beauty Capital, Lakestar, Bullish, Brand Foundry Ventures, blisce/, Andrew Mitchell, Gin Lane, Mo Koyfman, Alliance Consumer Growth, and Light Street Capital.
Raider and Katz-Mayfield will lead US operations for Edgewell serving as Co-Presidents. For Edgewell, which just reported a 9% decline in sales in its latest earnings release, this acquisition represents the opportunity to move the company’s portfolio of brands into the digital realm at scale, leveraging Raider and Katz-Mayfield’s expertise. Edgewell is trading down 16% at the time of this writing with a market cap of $1.8B. As of 9/30/2018, the company had $266.4M of cash on hand with $1.1B in long-term debt and will be adding debt to finance the transaction. Of note, the transaction is expected by the end of the first quarter of 2020. “The combination of Edgewell and Harry’s is a pivotal step forward in further transforming our organization and strengthening our competitive position and ability to drive sustained growth and value creation,” commented Rod Little, President and Chief Executive Officer Edgewell.
The combination of Edgewell and Harry’s is a pivotal step forward in further transforming our organization and strengthening our competitive position and ability to drive sustained growth and value creation – Rod Little
