May 2004 - Gillette to Acquire Rembrandt Brand from Den-Mat Corporation
Boston, MA - (Press Release) - The Gillette Company announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Rembrandt brand of at-home and professional teeth-whitening products from privately held Den-Mat Corporation of Santa Maria, California.
The transaction, expected to be completed in the second quarter, is subject to custom regulatory and other closing conditions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Rembrandt is a well-established, premium-priced whitening brand with strong consumer loyalty and excellent U.S. retail distribution and shelf position," said Bruce Cleverly, president, Gillette Oral Care. "While we will continue to focus on Oral-B's core franchise in manual and power brushing, this acquisition places us in the dynamic whitening segment that will be a platform for future growth."
With its Oral-B products, The Gillette Company is a worldwide leader in the $5 billion total brushing market. The brand includes manual and power toothbrushes for adults and children, oral irrigators and oral care centers and interdental products such as dental floss. Oral-B manual toothbrushes, the foundation and largest category of The Gillette Company's oral care business, are used by more dentists and consumers that any other brand in the U.S. and many international markets.
The Rembrandt product portfolio includes whitening toothpastes, bleaching kits, mouth rinses and breath fresheners for consumer and professional use. Rembrandt is a division of Santa Maria, California-based Den-Mat Corporation, one of the leading manufacturers of cosmetic restorative dentistry and bio-medical products including the fast-growing Cerinate TM brand of porcelain laminates, which offer people a painless way to reshape their smiles. Den-Mat was founded in 1974 by Dr. Robert Ibsen, a practicing dentist.
Headquartered in Boston, The Gillette Company is the world leader in male grooming, a category that includes blades, razors and shaving preparations. Gillette also holds the number one position worldwide in selected female grooming products, such as wet shaving products and hair epilation devices. In addition, the Company is world leader in alkaline batteries.
Avalon Group, Ltd., a New York based investment bank, represented Den-Mat, Corporation in its divestiture of the Rembrandt brand and Goldman Sachs, Inc. represented The Gillette Company in the acquisition.