Henkel: Laundry deal worth US$3.6b sealed

A logo of consumer goods group Henkel is pictured in Duesseldorf. German consumer products group Henkel yesterday said it was buying US laundry and home care company The Sun Products Corp from a fund of Vestar Capital Partners in a deal valued at US$3.6 billion including debt. The debt-financed acquisition will add laundry detergents All and Sun and fabric conditioner Snuggle to Henkel's portfolio and make it the No. 2 laundry care maker in North America, behind Procter & Gamble and ahead of Church & Dwight. Adding Sun Products' business, with annual sales of about 1.4 billion euros (US$1.6 billion) in the United States and Canada, will raise the proportion of sales Henkel's laundry and home care division generates in North America to about a third from 13 percent.