In an effort to strengthen their stance in the beauty sector, Kering Beauté has bought the upscale fragrance house Creed. This year, in February, Kering launched its own beauty division and appointed Raffaella Cornaggia as the Chief Executive Officer of Kering Beauté.
As the first acquisition of Kering Beauté, Creed provides Kering Beauté with the required scale, an outstanding financial profile, as well as a platform, supporting the future development of other Kering Beauté fragrance franchises, by leveraging, in particular, Creed’s global distribution network.
The House of Creed is committed to creating authentic and artisan perfumes for men and women from the finest perfume ingredient. Their history dates back to 1760 when James Henry Creed established the perfumery in London. At the time, Creed also produced highly tailored garments. Soon, Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie requested that the company relocate to Paris in 1854, and appointed Creed as an official supplier to the royal household. Since then, the House of Creed has continued to serve royal households and aristocrats, while creating uniquely rare and limited house fragrances.
While maintaining Creed’s illustrious history and premium brand reputation, Kering Beauté will further develop Creed’s potential across geographies, channels, and categories, particularly by speeding up its growth in China and in travel retail, as well as by expanding the feminine fragrance portfolio, body, and home categories.
About the new brand under Kering Beauté’s helm, Ms. Cornaggia, CEO of Kering Beauté, said, “Creed has a unique positioning in the fragrance market. We see a very compelling rationale and mutual strategic benefits in terms of expertise, network, and geographical footprint. We look forward to working with CEO Sarah Rotheram and her passionate team to continue to drive Creed’s success worldwide.”
Kering Beaute has bought the majority stake in Creed from investment company BlackRock. Kering Beauté is expected to expand its reach by introducing new beauty lines for its existing brands such as Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and more.
