Alberto-Culver's pending acquisition of the Noxzema brand from Procter & Gamble will grow the beauty and home care company's line of acne treatment formulas.

Under the terms of the deal announced Sept. 8, Alberto will acquire worldwide rights and trademarks to the brand, including the existing business in the U.S., Canada and portions of Latin America.

The U.S. portfolio comprises an assortment of facial cleansers including Triple Clean acne-treatment products, which feature active ingredients salicylic acid or triclosan.

The line also includes shaving formulas in the U.S., though the products are licensed out to another company which pays P&G royalties; those royalties will eventually be transferred to Melrose Park, Ill.-based Alberto.

P&G will continue to operate its European Noxzema shave care, antiperspirant/deodorant, body wash and body soap business in portions of Western Europe. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

"The Noxzema brand has great equity among consumers and, together with our existing St. Ives skin-care brand, will provide us with significant opportunities for growth in the skin-care category," Alberto says in a statement. The St. Ives brand contains a number of acne-treatment formulas.

Noxzema's facial cleansers rank fifth in U.S. sales. Non-acne treatment products under the brand generated sales of $19.4 million in supermarkets, drugstores and mass merchandise outlets (excluding Wal-Mart) for the 52 week-period that ended Aug. 10, according to Information Resources, Inc.

The brand's acne treatment formulas achieved sales of $4.26 million in the same retailers for the period, according to IRI, a market research firm.

P&G spokesman Sean Parker said Sept. 10 that the company, which has owned Noxzema since 1989, decided to sell the brand in order to focus resources on its core Olay and DDF skin-care lines.

It had been speculated that Cincinnati-based P&G was looking to divest the brand, though it did launch an effort in 2006 to "refresh" the brand's image with a $20 million advertising campaign.

- Eileen Francis (e.francis@elsevier.com)

Noxzema Buy Expands Alberto-Culver’s Acne Treatment Portfolio

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