USA: Coty acquires majority stake in Younique

Coty, the global beauty and personal care firm, has announced that it has entered into a partnership with Younique, a social selling platform for beauty products, that will see it take a 60% stake in the firm.

Founded in 2012 in the USA, Younique is described as offering a range of makeup and skin care products that are sold through a peer-to-peer e-commerce platform, using a community of independent presenters to leverage social media in marketing and distributing beauty products directly to consumers. The firm's product line includes eye, face and lip cosmetics, facial toners and moisturisers and self-tan products.

Younique’s 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, Coty said in a statement.

Commenting on the acquisition, Coty CEO Camillo Pane said: "[Company founders] 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".

Younique, which expects to generate approximately $400 million in net revenues in 2016, will operate as a separate business within Coty’s Consumer Beauty division, the firm said. Coty added that it would acquire its 60% stake in Younique for approximately $600 million in cash, funded through a combination of cash on hand and available debt facilities.

Source: Coty / Younique