The FTSE-100 consumer goods giant, Unilever, is close to an agreement of 230 million pounds sterling in Snap Up Wild, a high-end producer of rechargeable personal care products supported by the founders of Innocent Drinks.
Sky News has learned that Unilever has agreed with the terms of a transaction to acquire Wild from its founders and start -up investors.
An agreement could be announced in a few weeks, according to industry sources.
If it is confirmed, it would be one of the most important acquisitions of Unilever in the personal care space for a few years, and intervenes while the general manager Hein Schumacher accelerates efforts to reorganize her portfolio.
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The group has personal care brands such as Dove and Lynx – which is known as AX in most countries of the world.
Unilever would have been attracted to wild affairs because of its premium brand positioning and its commitment to sustainability.
Wild, which was founded by Charlie Bowes-Lyon and Freddy Ward, sells rechargeable natural deodorants, lip balms, body cuts and hand washing to consumers.
The sale price of up to 230 million pounds sterling includes a significant gain for the founders, but even without it, the agreement represents a remarkable triumph for a company founded six years ago.
Ward told The Grocer, a sales magazine in 2023 that Wild’s initial efforts to produce a credible product failed.
“We learned that we were not very good at doing deodorant, but there was a request for the product if we could do things well,” he said.
“It just didn’t work, it was the problem.
“The formulation was not very good.”
An overhaul of the product, which coincided with the remote shopping explosion triggered by the COVVI-19 crisis, paid dividends for the founders.
Since then, they would have raised in the region of 10 million pounds sterling of external investors, notably Jamjar Ventures, the investment vehicle of the founders of innocent drinks, Redbus Ventures and Slingshot Ventures.
Its accounts for the year on December 31, 2023 show that sales have reached nearly 47 million pounds Sterling, an increase of 77% compared to the previous year.
He recorded an operating profit of £ 560,000.
“2023 represented a moment of watersheds in the short history of Wild when we delivered our first profitable year of growth in the company”, the accounts – were reported last July – said.
A sale in Unilever occurs while the group listed in London envisages a list of its vast ice cream division, which includes the Ben & Jerry brand.
The company is putting pressure on to release an agreement involving the London Stock Exchange, although the exchanges of Amsterdam and New York are also under study.
On Monday afternoon, Unilever’s shares were negotiated at around £ 47.26, which gives it a market capitalization of nearly 116 billion pounds Sterling.
Unilever refused to comment, while Wild Cosmetics had no way to be immediately contacted to comment.