Equicapita buys beauty franchise business Visage Cosmetics
“Equicapita is targeting investment opportunities in the beauty product and services market due to its consistent demand profile in all economic environments and favorable long-term growth prospects,” says the firm’s managing director in Eastern Canada, Adam Jezewski, in this month’s press release about the acquisition deal.
Why buy this beauty business?
Caryl Baker Visage founded the Visage beauty retail and services franchise business in 1969. “We are The Face Experts because we specialize in everything from the neck up. We select and educate qualified franchise partners through an intensive training program to better serve our new and established clientele,” explains the company’s site.
In 2013, Nathan Tam and Justin Dumitrescu acquired the business. And it’s their success, in part, that precipitated the Equcapita deal. “Visage Cosmetic's owner-operators, and their senior management team, have consistently grown system revenue and strengthened the business' operating processes, brand and presence in the communities that Visage Cosmetics serves,” Jezewski tells the press.
Explaining the thinking behind the acquisition a bit further, he says, “Visage Cosmetics has an experienced and dedicated senior management team, led by Nathan Tam and many successful, long-term franchisees. We are fortunate and excited to have the opportunity to partner with Nathan and the Visage Cosmetics team and franchisees to continue strengthening and growing the business and brand going forward."
A focus on Canada, a shift toward beauty
Equicapita is (more accurately) a private company buyout fund, has been operating since 2013, and is focused on “long-established Canadian businesses.” According to the firm’s site, Equicapita target acquisitions “in the $5m to $50m rage in a wide cross-section of industries.” To date the firm has 12 companies in its portfolio beyond Visage, and just one other in beauty.
Equicapita is invested in a business called ESP Salon Sales, a wholesale beauty supply business serving stylists and salons across Canada. While Equicapita does own other franchise ventures, “the opportunity to invest in a successful beauty product and service business with a diverse and growing base of recurring royalty revenue adds industry diversification to Equicapita's investment portfolio and continues our growth into Eastern Canada,” explains the press release.
And Michael Cook, co-founder and Director of Equicapita tells the press that, “Since our initial meeting with the current owners, it has been clear that they care about the success of their franchisees and satisfaction of Visage Cosmetics' end customers. We look forward to supporting the ongoing growth and success of the business.”
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Deanna Utroske is a leading voice in the cosmetics and personal care industry as well as in the indie beauty movement. As Editor of CosmeticsDesign.com, she writes daily news about the business of beauty in the Americas region and regularly produces video interviews with cosmetics, fragrance, personal care, and packaging experts as well as with indie brand founders.
Deanna will be speaking next at the Uplink Live event in LA this month (save 10% on tickets with code: CD10) and at Green Beauty Night in February.
