L'Oreal buys Cadum to extend domestic reach

PARIS - French cosmetics maker L'Oreal said it had purchased baby products company Cadum to reach more customers in its domestic market.

Photo: Cadum

The Cadum business, with 2011 sales of 58 million euros, will join L'Oreal's consumer products division, the company said in a statement on Thursday, without disclosing financial terms.

L'Oreal agreed to pay 200 million euros ($264 million) to acquire Cadum from Anglo-French buyout fund Milestone Capital, a source close to the situation said earlier.

"Cadum is an important acquisition for L'Oreal in France," the company's consumer products chief Herve Navellou said in the statement. "It blends seamlessly into our strategy to conquer new consumers in France."

L'Oreal, maker of Garnier shampoo, Lancome creams and Yves Saint Laurent cosmetics, has no virtually no debt and is looking to boost sales through bolt-on acquisitions.

Last year, it bought Pacific Bioscience Laboratories, the Washington-based maker of Clarisonic beauty devices that clean the skin with oscillating brushes.

Milestone acquired Cadum in 2007, investing 17.5 million euros in a leveraged buyout.