Maesa enters next growth phase with Bain Capital Private Equity as its new partner

PARIS, NEW YORK, LONDON, March 28th, 2019 – Bain Capital Private Equity, a leading global private investment firm, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in Maesa, a global beauty brand incubator supplying leading retailers and beauty companies operating worldwide. Under this joint ownership of Bain Capital Private Equity and Maesa’s co-founders and management, the company will enter the next phase of its growth strategy.

Surpassing competition, Maesa has grown to be the leading global provider of beauty brand incubation and strategic outsourcing. By housing vertically integrated Marketing, Design, Engineering, Product Development and operations, Maesa provides customers unsurpassed speed to market providing exclusive products across the beauty industry including haircare, colour cosmetics, personal care and fragrance. Identifying white space opportunity globally, Maesa has incubated the creation of successful exclusive brands such as Kristin Ess Hair Care and Flower Beauty and partners with a wide range of retailers including Walmart, Target, Sephora, AS Watson, Ulta, Dollar General and H&M. It is Maesa’s unique model that combines the disciplines of designers, beauty merchants, consumer marketing and custom packaging development, which provides a truly differentiated and integrated service to its clients.

“We believe that Bain Capital Private Equity is the right partner to help us take Maesa into its next phase of growth as a global beauty supplier and beauty brand incubator” said Julien Saada & Gregory Mager, Co-Founders of Maesa. “Bain Capital Private Equity has a unique understanding and confidence in our long-term growth strategy, culture and people, bringing valuable global reach and expertise which will support us in our future growth plans”.

Bain Capital Private Equity has a distinguished track record of investing in and partnering with founders and management teams to accelerate the growth of companies. Its consumer and retail investments have included Bugaboo, Maisons du Monde, Sundial Brands, Virgin Voyages and Canada Goose. “The Bain Capital team has a long and successful history of working with founders to support the growth of differentiated business models that are leading change across their sectors,” said Nigel Walder, a Managing Director at Bain Capital Private Equity.

“Greg, Julien and the management team have built a remarkable business. We could not be more excited to partner with Maesa to continue to develop this innovative brand creation approach in an evolving beauty landscape.” said Miray Topay, a Principal at Bain Capital Private Equity.

Maesa is headquartered in New York, NY, USA and Levallois-Perret, France. Founded in 1997, Maesa has grown over the last 22 years to over 300 employees across seven offices globally and generates approximately over $230m in global annual sales. The founders and the management team of Maesa remain substantial shareholders alongside Bain Capital Private Equity and will continue to focus on driving the growth of the business, investing in leadership and developing talent. Andera Partners, a minority shareholder, will be selling its investment as part of the transaction. The team at Maesa thank Andera for their support.

The transaction remains subject to regulatory approval and is expected to complete in the first half of this year.

Maesa was advised by Financo. Bain Capital Private Equity was advised by Lazard and RBC Capital Markets.

About Maesa
Founded in 1997, Maesa is a global beauty brand incubator supplying leading retailers and beauty companies operating worldwide. Maesa designs and manufactures exclusive brands and private labels for mass, drug and specialty retailers and provide outsourcing solutions to beauty brands. In combining design, beauty merchant and production expertise under one roof, Maesa is a driving force in beauty brand incubation. For more information visit www.maesa.com.

About Bain Capital Private Equity
Bain Capital Private Equity (www.baincapitalprivateequity.com) has partnered closely with management teams to provide the strategic resources that build great companies and help them thrive since its founding in 1984. Bain Capital Private Equity’s global team of approximately 240
investment professionals creates value for its portfolio companies through its global platform and depth of expertise in key vertical industries including healthcare, consumer/retail, financial and business services, industrials, and technology, media and telecommunications. Bain Capital has 19 offices on four continents. The firm has made primary or add-on investments in more than 760 companies since its inception. In addition to private equity, Bain Capital invests across asset classes including credit, public equity and venture capital, managing approximately $105 billion in total and leveraging the firm’s shared platform to capture opportunities in strategic areas of focus. For more information, visit www.baincapitalprivateequity.com.