Who owns Mentholatum?
Mentholatum is owned by Rohto Pharmaceutical (Japan, TSE: 4527), which has owned the brand since 1988.[1]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: ROHTO Well-being Report 2025 (Rohto Pharmaceutical Integrated Report 2025), ROHTO Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- ROHTO Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. reported
- Owned since
- Owner HQ
- 🇯🇵 Japan, Osaka
- Origin
- 🇺🇸 United States, Wichita, Kansas
- Founded
- 1889 by A. A. Hyde
- Category
- Consumer health › Over-the-counter medicine › Cold
- Parent ticker
- TSE: 4527
- Last verified
- · 2 sources
About Mentholatum
Mentholatum goes back to the Yucca Company, which A. A. Hyde founded in Wichita, Kansas, in 1889. The Mentholatum trademark was registered in 1895, a plant opened in Buffalo, New York, in 1903, and the business took the name The Mentholatum Company in 1906. Rohto Pharmaceutical, which had sold the Mentholatum range in Japan since 1975, bought the company in 1988. In North America the name is sold for the relief of cough and cold symptoms; in Japan it covers skin medicines, lip balms, acne care and sunscreen.
Ownership timeline of Mentholatum
- 1988 – present Rohto Pharmaceutical [1] reported
Where Mentholatum sits in Rohto Pharmaceutical
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Rohto Pharmaceutical ownership tree →
See the full Rohto Pharmaceutical brand portfolio (4) →
Other brands owned by Rohto Pharmaceutical
Rohto Pharmaceutical controls 4 brands on Brandtree.
Other brands in cold, and who owns them
The 31 brands in cold on Brandtree belong to 18 owners. The largest is Krka, with 5.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Herbion | Krka | 🇸🇮 Slovenia |
| Breathe Right | Prestige Consumer Healthcare | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Lemsip | Reckitt | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
| Dimestil | Birzeit Pharmaceutical | 🇵🇸 Palestine |
| HealthCareAisle | Dr. Reddy's | 🇮🇳 India |
| Tukol | Genomma Lab | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
| Benadryl | Kenvue | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Allergosan | Sopharma | 🇧🇬 Bulgaria |
About the owner: Rohto Pharmaceutical
Rohto Pharmaceutical is a publicly listed company headquartered in Osaka, Japan, founded in 1899. Brandtree records 4 brands under its control, and it is listed as TSE: 4527.
Rohto Pharmaceutical is an Osaka company founded on 22 February 1899 to sell Ikatsu, a stomach medicine. It launched Rohto Eye Drops in 1909 and holds the largest share of Japan's over-the-counter eye care market. It moved into skincare in 1975 with the Mentholatum range and in 1988 bought the American company that owns that name, The Mentholatum Company, through which it now sells in much of the world; about 40 per cent of its sales are made outside Japan. Its skincare brands include Hada Labo, Melano CC and Skin Aqua, and in 2025 it acquired the Obagi trademarks for Japan, where it had sold that brand since 2001. In the year to March 2026 it had consolidated sales of ¥343.7 billion and 9,292 employees. It is listed on the Prime Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Rohto Pharmaceutical: full profile, brands and acquisition history →
🇺🇸 Mentholatum and other American brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,399 brands that began in the United States. 461 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Mentholatum among them.
- Advil — Haleon 🇬🇧
- Alka-Seltzer — Bayer 🇩🇪
- Band-Aid — Kenvue 🇺🇸
- Breathe Right — Prestige Consumer Healthcare 🇺🇸
- Bufferin (United States) — Genomma Lab 🇲🇽
- Doan's — Dr. Reddy's 🇮🇳
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Mentholatum?
The parent company of Mentholatum is Rohto Pharmaceutical, a publicly listed company headquartered in Japan.
Is Mentholatum American or Japanese?
Mentholatum originated in the United States in 1889, but it is owned today by Rohto Pharmaceutical, which is headquartered in Japan. So Mentholatum is an American-origin brand under Japanese ownership.
Since when has Rohto Pharmaceutical owned Mentholatum?
Rohto Pharmaceutical has owned Mentholatum since 1988.
Is Mentholatum still owned by Rohto Pharmaceutical?
Yes. As of 2 October 2026, Mentholatum is still owned by Rohto Pharmaceutical. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (2) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] ROHTO Well-being Report 2025 (Rohto Pharmaceutical Integrated Report 2025) — ROHTO Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Annual report; retrieved 2 October 2026.
- [2] About Mentholatum — 135 years of health and wellness — The Mentholatum Company, Official document; retrieved 2 October 2026.
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