P&G offloads shampoo brand to pvt equity firm

CHICAGO: Procter & Gamble (P&G) on Friday said it had sold the Pert Plus brand in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean to Najafi Companies, a private equity firm, as the consumer products powerhouse narrows its focus on its larger shampoo brands in the North American market. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

A spokesman for P&G said the company is focused on brands such as Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Herbal Essences, Aussie and Infusium 23 in North America. P&G retained the rights to Pert Plus in other markets, such as Mexico.

Najafi said Pert Plus would become part of its Innovative Brands, which aims to buy solid consumer brands no longer wanted by larger corporations and repositions them for growth.

“Our plan is to invest in Pert Plus and to grow and sustain the brand for the long term,” said Jerry Pence, a partner at Najafi Companies. “There are tremendous opportunities for growth and product expansion here,” he said.

Pence said Najafi was interested in Pert Plus because of the brand recognition, which retained a loyal base of consumers, despite a lack of promotion from P&G.

“There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the brand, it just happened to not fit within the toolbox that P&G wants to utilise,” Pence said. “That’s the type of thing we’re looking for,” he added.

P&G declined to disclose Pert Plus sales figures. The brand was first introduced in US in the 1980s. Najafi, which is based in Phoenix, calls itself the largest

private equity firm in Arizona. On its Web site, Najafi said it seeks to buy businesses “up to $1bn in transaction value”. Pence said Najafi spent several months negotiating with P&G, signed a deal a month ago and closed the deal on Thursday.