Colgate-Palmolive has completed 4 recorded acquisitions and 0 divestitures or spin-offs, spanning 2004 to 2019.
| Date | Type | Assets | Counterparty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2019 | Acquisition | Filorga | — | €1.69bn |
| Jun 2011 | Acquisition | Sanex | Unilever | €672m |
| May 2006 | Acquisition | Tom's of Maine | — | $100m |
| May 2004 | Acquisition | meridol and elmex | — | undisclosed |
Colgate-Palmolive acquired the French skincare brand Filorga for about €1.69 billion, its largest acquisition. It was an attempt to move into higher-margin premium skin care, a category dominated by L'Oréal and Estée Lauder.
Colgate-Palmolive bought Sanex from Unilever for about EUR 672 million. Unilever was selling because competition authorities required it to divest Sanex before it could complete its purchase of Sara Lee's personal care business, so one company's remedy became another's acquisition.
Colgate-Palmolive bought 84 per cent of Tom's of Maine for about $100 million, leaving the founders with the rest. Tom's had been built on natural ingredients and a refusal to test on animals, and the sale to a mass-market giant was contentious among the customers it had attracted on exactly those grounds.
Colgate-Palmolive acquired GABA Holding, a Swiss oral care company selling elmex and meridol through European pharmacies. The purchase gave Colgate a pharmacy channel and a specialist reputation in Europe that its mass-market toothpaste could not reach on its own. The price was not disclosed.
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