Sunstar: brands it owns and its ownership tree
Sunstar is a privately held company headquartered in Etoy, Switzerland that owns 8 consumer brands across 4 categories.[1]
Sunstar is a privately held group run by the Kaneda family, with its global headquarters at Etoy in Switzerland and its Japanese headquarters at Takatsuki near Osaka, where Kunio Kaneda founded it in 1932 selling rubber cement in a portable metal tube for mending bicycle tyres. It moved into oral care in 1946 with toothpaste in a tube, and the Sunstar name was coined as a reminder to brush with the sun in the morning and the stars at night. It employs about 4,000 people in 21 countries and runs a consumer oral care business and an industrial one making adhesives, sealants and motorcycle parts.
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brands owned
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4
categories
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0
acquisitions recorded
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0
divestitures recorded
Company facts
- Legal name
- Sunstar Suisse S.A. (also Sunstar Group, Sunstar Inc.)
- Type
- privately held company · see all privately held company owners
- Headquarters
- 🇨🇭 Etoy, Switzerland
- Founded
- 1932
- Website
- www.sunstar.com
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
Sunstar in numbers
- Sunstar owns 8 consumer brands tracked here across 4 top-level categories; the largest is personal care & beauty with 4 brands.[1]
- 8 of its brands originated outside Switzerland.
Everything Sunstar owns
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Full-screen interactive tree → · Download as infographic
Brand portfolio by category
Automotive (1)
Full portfolio, 8 brands, with sources → · Competitors by shared categories →
Recent changes to this record
Frequently asked questions
What brands does Sunstar own?
Sunstar owns 8 consumer brands tracked here, including Sunstar, GUM, BUTLER, Penguin, KENKODOJO and QAIS.
Is Sunstar a Swiss company?
Yes. Sunstar is headquartered in Etoy, Switzerland and was founded in 1932.
Who owns Sunstar?
Sunstar is privately held. Sunstar is a privately held group run by the Kaneda family, with its global headquarters at Etoy in Switzerland and its Japanese headquarters at Takatsuki near Osaka, where Kunio Kaneda founded it in 1932 selling rubber cement in a portable metal tube for mending bicycle tyres.
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] Sunstar Group — Our Story — Sunstar Suisse S.A., Official document; retrieved 27 September 2026.
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