Two Former P&Gers Hoping to Clean
Up Building a U.S. Focused Laundry and Cleaning Company
Cincinnati, OH - Redox Brands, Inc. took another step in building its arsenal of U.S. laundry and cleaning brands with the announcement today of its purchase of Biz color safe bleach, a brand first introduced to American consumers by Procter & Gamble in 1967.
This is Redox's second purchase of a P&G laundry brand in three months. On June 30, the company purchased P&G's oldest laundry brand, Oxydol. Two weeks later P&G publicly announced its plan to sell Biz.
Redox co-founders Todd Wichmann and Richard Owen both worked for P&G in a variety of positions for about eight years before forming their own company this past summer. Mr. Wichmann is President of the new company and Mr. Owen is Chief Operating Officer.
Redox is hoping to capitalize on a growing trend by multi-national consumer companies shifting attention from regionalization to globalization.
"We're not trying to conquer the universe. We are convinced we can build a successful company with brands that no longer fit the global strategies of the large consumer products companies, but for which American consumers have a longstanding affinity and relationship," said Wichmann. He noted that P&G is not the only large consumer products company culling brands from their portfolios. Dial and Unilever are taking similar action.
"Our tightly focused strategy enables us to better meet the needs of American consumers while making a better than average return on shareholder investment," said Owen.
Unlike Oxydol, a $6 million brand with flat sales when it was purchased, Biz is a much larger, growing brand at $38 million, up 20 percent from three years ago.* "There are some obvious synergies between these two brands," Wichmann said. For example, he said Oxydol can gain from the distribution channels already opened by Biz. Further, Oxydol and Biz use similar cleaning technologies and can be made at the same production facilities.
Wichmann and Owen are buoyed by the reaction of the trade to Oxydol's stepped up marketing plans. "We're seeing merchandizing activity that Oxydol hasn't seen in six years," said Owen. He said the brand is getting into new stores, gaining shelf presence, merchandising ads, and end cap displays.
Source: Information Resources, Inc. (IRI)
Wichmann and Owen plan to revitalize Biz in a manner similar to their Oxydol strategy, which includes more in-store promotions, print and radio advertising. Like Oxydol, Biz will be represented in the trade by Marketing Specialists, a premier national sales organization.
"Our lead advisors for this transaction from The Malibu Group were integral in executing a very smooth and timely closure to this strategic purchase for our company", said Wichmann. "The Malibu Group combines the Wall Street type experience with the knowledge of small company issues that we value tremendously," said Owen. The Biz transaction was financed with a combination of additional equity and debt; the equity was supplied by the current investor group, led by Meriwether Capital Corp.
Biz
Biz was first introduced nationally in 1968 as a "pre-soak"
and later repositioned as a "detergent booster." However,
it's longstanding benefit has been its position as an "all
fabric" bleach. Over the years that attribute has been described
as "stain fighter" and "color safe." In 1994 Biz, like many
other P&G laundry brands before it, was introduced nationally
in an "ultra" formula, more highly concentrated, which means
less product is needed to achieve cleaning results. Because
of its stain fighting positioning and superior cleaning
performance, Biz has the highest consumer loyalty than any
other bleach additive in the category.
About Redox
Redox is a private company financed by a group of investors
that includes the Meriwether Capital Corp. P&G has a minority
equity stake in the company. Before forming Redox, both
Mr. Owen and Mr. Wichmann had promising careers at P&G,
both starting out as chemical engineers in the laundry division
in 1992. Mr. Wichmann, 30, later followed a marketing path
and Mr. Owen, 31, pursued sales and finance. The mission
of Redox Brands, Inc. is to acquire and rapidly develop
under-valued name-brand consumer cleaning products. Redox
will focus on providing brands to suit U.S. customer and
consumer needs. The company is headquartered in West Chester,
Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio.
About Malibu Group
The Malibu Group is a regional Merger and Acquisition Consulting
firm that serves small to mid-sized companies who desire
an effective resource to lead or supplement their acquisition,
financing and strategy development initiatives. The company
is based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
About Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble markets approximately 300 brands to nearly
five billion consumers in over 140 countries. These brands
include Tide, Ariel, Crest, Pantene Pro-V, Always, Whisper,
Pringles, Pampers, Olay, Iams and Vicks. Based in Cincinnati,
Ohio, USA, P&G has on-the-ground operations in over 70 countries
and employs more than 110,000 people worldwide.
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