Who owns Purex?
Purex is owned by Henkel (Germany, XETRA: HEN3), which has owned the brand since 30 March 2004.[1]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Henkel AG & Co. KGaA Annual Report 2025, 5 March 2026. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Henkel AG & Co. KGaA reported
- Owned since
- Owner HQ
- 🇩🇪 Germany, Düsseldorf
- Origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Founded
- 1922
- Category
- Home care › Laundry › Laundry detergent
- Parent ticker
- XETRA: HEN3
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About Purex
Purex is a value laundry detergent brand in North America dating to 1922, originally a bleach before extending into detergent. It is positioned below premium brands on price and sold on cost per wash. Henkel acquired it with The Dial Corporation in 2004.
Ownership timeline of Purex
Where Purex sits in Henkel
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Henkel ownership tree →
See the full Henkel brand portfolio (13) →
Other brands owned by Henkel
Henkel controls 13 brands on Brandtree, 8 of them in home care.
Also in home care
Other brands in laundry detergent, and who owns them
The 47 brands in laundry detergent on Brandtree belong to 25 owners. The largest is Alicorp, with 4; Henkel has 2.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Bolívar | Alicorp | 🇵🇪 Peru |
| Dr. Wool | Jyothy Labs | 🇮🇳 India |
| Ciclón | La Fabril | 🇪🇨 Ecuador |
| Ariel | Procter & Gamble | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Savon Étoile | SCS | 🇨🇲 Cameroon |
| Magic | Sulfo Rwanda | 🇷🇼 Rwanda |
| LIQ | Aekyung | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| Msafi | Bidco Africa | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
About the owner: Henkel
Henkel is a publicly listed company headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany, founded in 1876. Brandtree records 13 brands under its control, and it is listed as XETRA: HEN3.
Henkel was founded in Aachen in 1876 and is run as a partnership limited by shares with the Henkel family holding a controlling block of ordinary shares. It combines a consumer brands business in laundry, home care and hair with a larger industrial adhesives division.
🇺🇸 Purex and other American brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,549 brands that began in the United States. 478 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Purex among them.
- 3-IN-ONE — WD-40 Company 🇺🇸
- Air Wick — Reckitt 🇬🇧
- Ajax — Colgate-Palmolive 🇺🇸
- All-Clad — Groupe SEB 🇫🇷
- Amazon Basics — Amazon 🇺🇸
- American Girl — Mattel 🇺🇸
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Purex?
The parent company of Purex is Henkel, a publicly listed company headquartered in Germany.
Is Purex American or German?
Purex originated in the United States in 1922, but it is owned today by Henkel, which is headquartered in Germany. So Purex is an American-origin brand under German ownership.
Since when has Henkel owned Purex?
Henkel has owned Purex since 30 March 2004.
Is Purex still owned by Henkel?
Yes. As of 16 September 2026, Purex is still owned by Henkel. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & 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] Henkel AG & Co. KGaA Annual Report 2025 — Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, Annual report, published 5 March 2026; retrieved 16 September 2026.
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