Yatsen To Buy Eve Lom

Manzanita Capital will continue to hold a minority stake in the business.

LONDON — Yatsen Holding Ltd., the parent company of cosmetics and skin care brands Perfect Diary, Little Ondine, Abby’s Choice and Galénic, Tuesday announced that it will acquire skincare brand Eve Lom from Manzanita Capital.

Manzanita Capital will continue to hold a minority stake in the business and enter into a strategic partnership with Yatsen. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the coming weeks.

“The brand has developed an incredibly loyal following driven by its hero products such as the Eve Lom Cleanser, and demonstrated resilient sales and profitability even during COVID19,” said David Huang, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Yatsen.

Andras Szirtes, managing partner of Manzanita, noted that Eve Lom has been “part of the Manzanita family of brands for nearly 20 years and together we have been on an incredible journey of growth. We are proud to have watched Eve Lom’s development from a niche brand into a global business with a presence across North America, Europe and Asia.”

“We are convinced that Yatsen’s strong roots with Asian consumers, exceptional e- commerce capabilities and proven track record of innovation will further accelerate Eve Lom’s growth,” Szirtes added.

Founded in 1985 by facialist Eve

Lom, the brand has built a global distribution network with notable strength in Asian markets.

Headquartered in London, Manzanita Capital, which specializes in high-end, niche beauty brands, has a wide-ranging portfolio, including Space NK, Diptyque, Byredo, Kevyn Aucoin, Lipstick Queen, IO Apothecary and Malin + Goetz. It also has invested in Emily Weiss’ Glossier back in 2014.

WWD reported last year that Eve Lom and Kevyn Aucoin are at least two of the brands that Manzanita Capital is said to be shopping around. Industry sources estimated Eve Lom has sales between $17 million and $18 million.

The Guangzhou-based Yatsen raised $616.9 million in a U.S. initial public offering last November. Now it has a market capitalization of $12.4 billion.

Yatsen mentioned in its prospectus that money raised from the IPO would be used in marketing and daily operations of the company, potential strategic investments and acquisitions, product development and technology development, and physical retail expansion beyond China.

The company also acquired the Galénic skin- care brand from Pierre Fabre last year.