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32 October 2015 | beautystorebusiness.com Skincare Spotlight this, the company has been on a strict divestiture kick throughout 2015, selling up to 100 brands, including Fekkai, Wella and more. This divestiture project should be completed by mid-2016. Two other 2015 events are worth not- ing, although they do not exactly qualify as M&A.; First, in February, Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop became involved with Juice Beauty. As reported by Brand Growth Management's Kovack "under the new U.S. based joint business venture, each of the companies and Gwyneth will hold stock in the other; the deal is for a five year term plus renewal; Gwyneth will hold the title of Juice Beauty's Creative Direc- tor, Makeup; Goop and Juice Beauty are developing a skincare collection slated to reach the market in early 2016." Second, in March, Pevonia's co-founders took back control of their company. Philippe and Syl- vie Hennessy repurchased 100% of the company they co-founded from the private- equity firm TSG Consumer Partners. This is in line with TSG's recent shedding of other beauty holdings. ON THE RETAIL SIDE It is interesting to note that a similar energy can be seen in the retail land- scape, continuing on the path started by Nordstrom's acquisition of HauteLook in 2011 and continued by Target's acquisi- tion of DermStore in 2013. In November 2014, Into the Gloss raised $8.4 million. I admire Emily Weiss, read Into The Gloss religiously and am intrigued by the launch of an "e-tail" only beauty brand. We all said it was impossible—don't you need to touch and feel?—yet she did it. Here are the details as reported by Kovack of Brand Growth Management: "Forerun- ner Ventures and Lerer Hippeau Ventures helped the startup gain its initial $2 million and contributed to the recent $8.4 million investment. The largest contribution to the round came from Thrive Capital, also an investor in Warby Parker and Instagram. Other investors include 14W, TOMS Capital, Manzanita Capital, Andy Dunn (Bonobos founder), Dave Tisch (Spring and Box Group founder) and Jay Brown (ROC Nation)." In February 2015, Bluemercury announces its sale to Macy's for $210 million with the goal of bringing some of its brands to the department store, opening more stand- alone stores and implementing a "store in store" concept. In March 2015, Yoox and Net-a-Porter merge. Most recently, CVC Capital Partners acquired Douglas—one of the largest specialty beauty retailers in Europe—from Advent International. Founded in 1821, Douglas was reported to have annual sales of about 2.5 billion euros in the fiscal year 2013/2014. THE FUTURE This is what Vennette Ho, managing direc- tor of Financo, has to say: "We expect the beauty M&A; market to remain robust for the next six to 12 months as innovation continues to occur at a breakneck pace and cash-rich companies continue to seek growth. On the strategic side, traditional acquirers such as Estée Lauder and L'Oréal are always open to new opportunities; meanwhile, a number of publicly traded companies such as Henkel and Helen of Troy have publicly stated their interest in increasing their M&A; activity in beauty." (Sources used for this column unless specifically otherwise noted were Forbes.com, Brand Growth Management and various WWD publications.) ■ Ada S. Polla is the president and CEO of Alchimie Forever. She is the co-creator of her family's Swiss-based skincare line, which she launched in the United States in 2004. Her skincare knowledge and business skills have yielded double-digit annual-revenue growth for the brand. She holds an MBA from Georgetown University and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University. HEALTHY HAIR just got sleek!