Tiger Brands to acquire Status assets

Status was originally owned by the Sara Lee Corporation and was acquired by Unilever as part of the global transaction in which Unilever acquired Sara Lee's Personal Care business.

Tiger Brands said that the South African competition authorities had approved the acquisition by Unilever of Sara Lee's Personal Care business locally subject to Unilever disposing of the Status trademark.

The group said it had also has entered into an agreement to dispose of its Mousson trademark to Unilever. Mousson participates within the South African foam bath and lotion personal care categories.

"The acquisition of the Status assets provides Tiger Brands with a meaningful presence in the South African male deodorant market segment.

"Further to this, there is the potential to leverage the brand's longstanding equity into the wider male grooming sector.

"The acquisition also provides Tiger Brands with critical mass in the personal care category, which will facilitate a further optimisation of the company's current product portfolio," the group said.

It noted that the turnover attributable to the Status brand for the year ended 30 June 2010 was about R100 million and the attributable turnover for Mousson for the year ended September 2010 was about R24 million.

The acquisition and disposal would be subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions precedent including the unconditional approval by the South African competition authorities.