In order to revive a two-year-old initiative, Unilever Plc has hired investment banks Morgan Stanley and Evercore Inc to sell a collection of non-core beauty and personal care brands, including Q-Tips and Impulse.

Hein Schumacher, who took over as Unilever’s chief executive in July with a focus to streamline the business as it battles inflation, has made his first significant action with the reopening of the sale process, which has not previously been published.

Additionally, Caress, TIGI, Timotei, Monsavon, St. Ives, Zwitsal, Ponds, Brut, Moussel, Alberto Balsam, and Matey are part of the Elida Beauty brand portfolio. According to the sources, Elida made roughly $760 million in revenue in 2022.

The process to divest Elida was started by Unilever and Credit Suisse in 2021, but it was abandoned later that year as other consumer businesses cherry-picked the brands they wanted to sell, according to the sources.

Since then, according to the sources, Unilever has pushed to turn Elida into a stand-alone division that could also be attractive to private equity firms as a whole. According to the sources, Morgan Stanley and Evercore have now gotten in touch with a number of companies to determine who would be interested in buying Elida as part of a potential multibillion-dollar transaction.

The sources asked to remain anonymous because the information is private. Morgan Stanley, Evercore, and Unilever all declined to comment.

Since around two years ago, the cost of everything from sunflower oil and transportation to packaging and grain has increased, leaving the consumer products sector reeling. Unilever, the manufacturer of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Dove soap, has been moved by this to assess its portfolio of non-core assets that it can sell to raise money.

After boosting prices to cover the rising expenses, Unilever exceeded expectations for underlying sales growth in the second quarter. Additionally, it has thought about putting several of its American ice cream brands, such Breyers and Klondike, up for sale.

(Adapted from Reuters.com)