General Atlantic has agreed to acquire Too Faced Cosmetics from Weston Presidio which first invested in the company in January 2012. The founders and senior management team of Too Faced will retain ownership in the company.
Too Faced is a cosmetics company that serves women ages 18 to 35 with an array of products including lipstick, eye shadow, mascara, and foundations. The company’s products are sold in over 1,200 retail locations in the US and over 500 international locations across 25 countries. Too Faced was founded in 1998 by former celebrity makeup artist Jerrod Blandino and Jeremy Johnson. The company is headquartered in Irvine, CA (www.toofaced.com).
“Too Faced is one of the largest independent cosmetic brands with phenomenal momentum led by an outstanding and deep management team,” said Andrew Crawford, Managing Director and Global Head of General Atlantic’s Retail & Consumer sector. “With such a prominent presence in specialty beauty retail, Too Faced is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this channel’s growing popularity with consumers. We look forward to working with Too Faced’s proven management team, led by industry game changers Jeremy and Jerrod and President Eric Hohl. Their passion for innovating beauty is unrivaled and has driven extraordinary business success.”
As part of this transaction, beauty industry executive Ken Stevens will join Too Faced as its new chairman of the board. Mr. Stevens was the former chairman of Ulta Beauty, former chief executive officer of Philosophy, and former president of Bath & Body Works.
“We are so grateful to our customers who have fueled our growth from a small indie brand to a fixture within the beauty industry,” said Jeremy Johnson, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Too Faced. “To continue our growth trajectory, we were seeking a global thought leader experienced in partnering with founder-led, high growth companies, and the team at General Atlantic was a natural fit. Their experience will help us accelerate our expansion as we invite even more women around the world to ‘own their pretty.'”
General Atlantic is focused on providing capital and strategic support to growth companies. The firm was founded in 1980 and manages approximately $18 billion in capital. General Atlantic has more than 100 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Greenwich, Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, Sao Paulo and Singapore (www.generalatlantic.com).
Financing for the transaction is being arranged by KeyBanc Capital Markets.
Too Faced was advised by Piper Jaffray, Intrepid Investment Bankers, and Kirkland & Ellis. General Atlantic was advised by Financo and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
© 2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 6-9-15
