The German skin and body care products company, Beiersdorf AG, which makes the Nivea range, is reportedly preparing to shed its industrial and consumer adhesives subsidiary Tesa AG in the medium term in order to develop into a cosmetics group. However, a spokeswoman for the group said a sell-off of the subsidiary was not planned and that the reports were merely speculation.
The reports suggest that talks have been held with Maxingvest, the company representing majority shareholders over a business model under which Tesa shares could be bundled into a package for distribution among its existing shareholders. The Herz family, which owns Maxingvest, would acquire over 50% of Tesa and would control its substantial adhesives business.
The chairman of Beiersdorf, Thomas-Bernd Quaas has made clear his ambition to convert the north German hybrid into a major cosmetics concern focusing on its leading brands - Nivea, Eucerin, Labello, Juvena and Florena. Earlier attempts to sell off Tesa met with determined opposition from major shareholders including the Tchibo group but it is now understood that soundings were taken in discussions with Maxingvest in early November.
Beiersdorf increased first half 2007 sales 9.2% to E2.8bn while pre-tax earnings went up 16% to E373m. Particular success was reported with the introduction of men's cosmetics in India while Nivea products for men dominated the market in China. Considerable restructuring and reorganisation is underway with sell-offs of production and distribution units in France and a soaps plant in Germany while production in Italy is being switched to Spain. The aim is to streamline production and distribution facilities so as to tie up less capital. The worldwide cosmetics market is expected to continue its long-term growth of about 3% to 4% annually on Beiersdorf's estimate but growth through 2007 so far has been well above the market average with the skin care and body care cosmetics sector especially expanding by 8%.