American Securities has agreed to acquire Conair Corporation in partnership with members of the founding Rizzuto family.
Conair is a designer, manufacturer, and marketer of branded personal care and small kitchen appliances, cookware, hairbrushes, accessories, cosmetic bags, and travel accessories. Company-owned brand names include Cuisinart, Conair, Babyliss, Scunci and Waring. Conair’s products are sold in more than 120 countries across six continents.
Conair was founded in 1959 as Continental Hair in a garage in Queens, New York by Julian Rizzuto and his son Lee Rizzuto. The company’s first products included hair rollers and hair dryers. Conair went public in 1972 and was taken private by Lee Rizzuto in 1985. Conair acquired Cuisinart in 1989, Waring Products in 1998, and travel bag manufacturer Allegro in 2007. In 2019, Conair sold its professional liquids division, a manufacturer and marketer of branded (Aquage, RUSK and One ‘n Only) and private label hair care, color and styling products, to Transom Capital Group.
Lee Rizzuto passed away in 2017 and today the Stamford, Connecticut-headquartered company is led by CEO Ron Diamond. “I am proud to continue the journey I started under Mr. Rizzuto more than 40 years ago that helped us grow our iconic brands into a world-class, diversified global company proudly sharing our products in millions of consumers’ homes,” said Mr. Diamond. “The partnership with American Securities will allow us to continue our evolution with a focus on new product development and an acceleration of our M&A activities while continuing to bring efficiencies to our operations.”
“We are excited to partner with Ron and the rest of the Conair management team as they continue to execute on a strategy to expand on the exceptional brand portfolio that consumers love all over the world,” said Kevin Penn, a managing director at American Securities.
American Securities invests in businesses with $200 million to $2 billion of revenue and $50 million to $250 million of EBITDA. Sectors of interest include industrial manufacturing, specialty chemicals, aerospace and defense, energy, business services, healthcare, media, restaurants, and consumer products. The firm has more than $23 billion of capital under management and has offices in New York City and Shanghai.
“Conair’s scale, best-in-class product offering, supply chain capabilities, and strong management team creates a sustainable competitive advantage and makes Conair a strong fit for our investment strategy,” concluded Helen Chiang, a managing director of American Securities.
Sawaya Partners and PJ Solomon were the financial advisors to Conair on this transaction.
© 2021 Private Equity Professional | March 16, 2021
