Forward will re-engage founder Eric Ryan as adviser and board member
Unilever has agreed to sell its Welly bandage brand to private-equity firm Forward Consumer Partners, the companies’ executives told The Wall Street Journal, in a transaction the companies are set to announce Monday.
Unilever isn’t disclosing the terms of the deal. As part of the agreement, Forward Consumer Partners is expected to bring back Welly’s founder Eric Ryan as a strategic adviser and board member.
Ryan originally sold Welly to Unilever in 2021. The brand sells colorful adhesive bandages, first-aid kits and bug-bite relief patches, and has been housed within Unilever’s beauty and well-being segment — the division that also includes Dove soap, Vaseline jelly and Liquid I.V. drink powders.
The sale is the latest in a multiyear effort at Unilever to clean up its sprawling portfolio of businesses. The company has been focused on trying to streamline itself, pivoting away from food and focusing on beauty, personal-care and home products. Unilever spun off its ice-cream arm into a business now known as Magnum Ice Cream, sold its tea unit and divested its margarine and spreads brands.
Earlier this year, the company agreed to merge its food segment with spice giant McCormick. Separately, Unilever also agreed earlier this year to acquire supplements maker Grüns for more than $1 billion.
Ryan is a serial entrepreneur who previously co-founded the cleaning-products maker Method and the vitamin-and-supplements brand Olly. The latter was also sold to Unilever.
Forward Consumer Partners was founded by Matt Leeds, a former partner at L Catterton. The private-equity firm’s other portfolio brands include Justin’s peanut butter, Firehook crackers and Xochitl tortilla chips.
Food-and-beverage and consumer-products companies have been trying to freshen up or hive off dated brands and scoop up promising upstarts that resonate more with younger consumers, the Journal reported.