St. Ives is owned by Unilever (the United Kingdom, LSE: ULVR), which acquired the brand on 10 May 2011 from Alberto Culver, as part of a $3.7 billion deal that also included TRESemmé, VO5 and 2 others.[1] Before Unilever, St. Ives was owned by Alberto Culver to 2011.[1]
St. Ives is a body and facial care brand best known for its apricot scrub, an exfoliant made with crushed walnut shells that has been both a long-running bestseller and the subject of criticism from dermatologists about abrasiveness. The brand came to Unilever through the 2011 acquisition of Alberto Culver.
How often Unilever names St. Ives in its annual report
A plain count of the times the name appears in the text of each annual report, not counting the start of a sentence. A brand that an owner writes about more is usually one it treats as central.
Unilever is a publicly listed company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, founded in 1929. Brandtree records 53 brands under its control, and it is listed as LSE: ULVR, NYSE: UL and AEX: UNA.
Unilever is a British consumer goods company formed in 1929 by the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie and British soap maker Lever Brothers. It reports through four business groups: Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care and Foods. Its ice cream business was demerged as The Magnum Ice Cream Company in December 2025.
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, St. Ives among them.
Unilever bought Alberto Culver for $37.50 a share in cash, adding TRESemmé, VO5, Simple, St. Ives and Nexxus to its hair and skin portfolio. Regulators required Unilever to divest the Alberto VO5 and Rave brands in the United States.
The parent company of St. Ives is Unilever, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United Kingdom.
Is St. Ives American or British?
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St. Ives originated in the United States in 1955, but it is owned today by Unilever, which is headquartered in the United Kingdom. So St. Ives is an American-origin brand under British ownership.
When did Unilever buy St. Ives?
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Unilever completed its acquisition of St. Ives on 10 May 2011, after announcing the deal on 27 September 2010. The deal, which also included TRESemmé and VO5 and 2 others, was valued at $3.7 billion.
Who owned St. Ives before Unilever?
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Before Unilever, St. Ives was owned by Alberto Culver until 2011.
Is St. Ives still owned by Unilever?
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Yes. As of 16 September 2026, St. Ives is still owned by Unilever. 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.
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