THG swoops for upmarket US beauty manufacturer in £180m deal

The Hut Group has agreed to buy US manufacturer of skin and hair care products, Bentley Labs, for £180m.

The deal, which will complement the group’s existing manufacturing facilities and expand its US offering, is expected to complete in 30 days subject to regulatory approval in the US.

Manchester-headquartered THG is currently a customer of Bentley, which produces tropical skincare brand Perricone, which the group acquired last September for $60m (£42m).

The Bentley deal will allow THG to bring the production of Perricone in-house and accelerate the development of new products.

Bentley currently partners with more than 70 beauty brands globally and the group said the acquisition provides a ‘huge opportunity’ to improve the service to these brands.

The terms of the deal include $255m (£180m) cash to Bentley founder Brian Fitzpatrick and The Riverside Company on a cash and debt free basis.

Bentley is expected to contribute sales of £55m and adjusted EBITDA of £11m in 2022.

Matthew Moulding, Executive Chairman and CEO of THG, said: “The US is an important growth market for THG.

“This investment within our THG Labs division supports the Group’s vertical integration strategy, while further deepening our close and important relationships with brand owners across the global beauty industry.

“Bentley provides THG with US-based, pre-eminent in-house skincare and haircare new product development capabilities and manufacturing, which will be leveraged across THG’s expanding own beauty brand portfolio, as well as THG’s partner brands across Ingenuity and Beauty to embed THG even more deeply as a strategic partner to clients.”

THG owns a range of online beauty and nutrition brands including Lookfantastic and Myprotein, and provides e-commerce technology to firms such as Unilever.