 |
| Industry | Consumer Products |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Paris, France |
| Products | Colour Catcher, Keep it White, Vim, Ballerina, Vigor, Eparcyl, Punch, Dylon |
| Parent | Henkel |
| Website | www.spotlessgroup.eu |
Spotless Group SAS was a pan-European manufacturer of insect control and laundry products, based in Paris, France. In 2015, it became part of Germany's Henkel group.
Spotless Group was established by AXA Private Equity (renamed Ardian in 2013) in 2005, upon AXAs acquisition of French homecare company Eau Ecarlate. [1] The incumbent CEO of Eau Ecarlate, Pierre le Tanneur, assumed the presidency of Spotless. [2]
In 2006, the second year of its existence, Spotless Group acquired Bologna-based homecare company Guaber and Irish shoe-care manufacturer Punch Industries. The group made further acquisitions in 2007, of sewerage disposal company Eparcyl and the Unilever brand Ballerina. [3] [4] In 2008, the company purchased Dylon International, the UK's leading dye producer, from the Mayborn Group. Spotless Group owns a total of 18 brands as of 2008. [5]
In 2010, AXA Private Equity (renamed Ardian in 2013) sold its 65.6% stake in Spotless Group to British private-equity company BC Partners for a reported €600 million, according to Reuters. [6]
In 2014, [7] Germany's Henkel, a specialist in laundry products, offered to buy Spotless for 940 million Euros (about $1.3 billion) in cash. “By acquiring the Spotless Group, we will strengthen our market position and enter highly profitable growth segments,” Henkel chief executive Kasper Rorsted told reporters. [8] The deal, which was subject to approval from antitrust authorities, was completed in May 2015. [9] The deal would slightly increase Henkel's share of the $82 billion global laundry care market to 8.7%, still well behind Procter & Gamble's 26.6% and the 14.8% market share held by Unilever, which sells Persil detergent - a Henkel brand - in some markets. [10]
Spotless Group had subsidiaries in 8 European Countries:
Spotless Group owned the brand Colour Catcher, which is the market leader in washing machine colour protection. Other Spotless Group brands include:
Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London. Unilever products include food, condiments, ice cream, cleaning agents, beauty products, and personal care. Unilever is the largest producer of soap in the world and its products are available in around 190 countries.
Surf is a British brand of laundry detergent manufactured and marketed around the world by Unilever, except in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, where it has been owned by Sun Products since 2008.
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Vim is the name of a range of household cleaning products originally produced by Lever Brothers. The Vim brand is currently owned by the German multinational company Henkel, and the Anglo-Dutch multinational company Unilever in Canada, and Vietnam.
Persil is a German brand of laundry detergent manufactured and marketed by Henkel around the world except in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Latin America, China, Australia and New Zealand, where it is manufactured and marketed by Unilever. Persil was introduced in 1907 by Henkel. It was the first commercially available laundry detergent that combined bleach with the detergent. The name was derived from two of its original ingredients, sodium perborate and sodium silicate.
Sunlight is a brand of laundry soap, laundry detergent and dishwashing detergent manufactured and marketed around the world by Unilever, except in the United States and Canada, where it has been owned by Sun Products since 2010.
Snuggle is a brand of fabric softener sold by Henkel North American Consumer Goods in the United States and Canada. The brand was introduced in 1983 by Unilever. The product is available in sheets or liquid.
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Dylon International is a British brand of textile dyes and other household chemicals. It was founded in 1946 by the Mayborn Group. The Mayborn Group sold Dylon International to European homecare company Spotless Group in 2008. Spotless Group was acquired by Henkel in 2014 which is the current owner of Dylon.
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Colour Catcher is a brand name of colour run prevention products manufactured by Spotless Group. Colour Catcher is distributed by Spotless Punch in the United Kingdom, by Punch Industries in Ireland, in Spain as Atrapa Color, by Eau Ecarlate in France as Décolor Stop, and by Guaber in Italy as Acchiappacolore.
Dominique Senequier is a French businesswoman. She is president of Ardian, a private equity firm she founded in 1996.
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