Symrise acquires 25% of Kobo to advance sunscreen and color cosmetics segments

01 Sep 2021 --- Symrise’s Cosmetic Ingredients division is making a strategic investment in Kobo Products – a powder and dispersion company – to expand its activities into UV filters and decorative cosmetics.

The company will acquire a 25 percent stake in Kobo and has agreed on the future disposition of shares of Kobo’s capital stock and its governance.

Bernhard Kott, corporate communications and sustainability at Symrise, tells PersonalCareInsights that the companies have agreed not to disclose any of the financial details of the transaction.

“With the addition of the Kobo Portfolio we will expand our own, especially within the sun protection segment and will use our broad customer access and infrastructure to build a joint business.”

The collaboration will bridge color and skin care cosmetics, according to Symrise.“This investment enables us to stay at the forefront of consumer trends by bridging color and skin care cosmetics,” says Dr. Jörn Andreas, president of cosmetic ingredients division at Symrise.

“We will combine Kobo’s broad range of product lines in surface treated pigments, sun care and color dispersions with our experience in manufacturing and marketing cosmetic ingredients. Our customers will benefit from an unmatched range of UV filter products and a full spectrum of formulations and integrated solutions.”

Expanding color expertise
Symrise’s Cosmetic Ingredients division is well-versed in the beauty solutions market. The group is capitalizing on over 100 years of experience in developing and marketing cosmetic ingredients and the ability to intertwine the best of nature, science, as well as skin and hair biology.

Symrise’s portfolio ranges from advanced actives and botanicals, product protection solutions, broad range of sun care filters to high-performance functionals and special color solutions.

The company sees a wide range of possibilities to jointly explore additional growth opportunities together with Kobo. Both groups will, for example, cooperate in the distribution of UV filters and Kobo can capitalize on Symrise’s global sales infrastructure.

“Up to now, our focus has mainly been on active ingredients but we see great potential to increase our competencies by adding decorative parts in cosmetics, which is an ongoing growing segment,” notes Kott.

In regards to the UV filters’ potential, Kott says that “almost all cosmetics can be related or are related to sun exposure, therefore sun protection is an important area in cosmetic formulation, with an increasing demand.”

The investment will expand Symrise’s activities within the sun protection and color cosmetics segments. Pigment and powder experts
Incorporated and headquartered in New Jersey, US, since 1987Kobo Products is a pigment and powder company, providing technology-based raw materials to the cosmetic industry.

Kobo has a very large color palette of surface treated pigments and dispersions to supply the market demand for make-up products for a wide range of skin tones.

It’s a market expert in mineral sunscreen technologies to create high protection formulations with broad spectrum protection, microspheres for enhanced textures and materials that are derived of natural origin.

“Joining forces with Symrise offers us an opportunity to further develop our color and sun businesses. Both companies share similar values regarding employee health and their well-being,” says David Schlossman, president of Kobo.

“Together, we will do the research necessary to create technical color and sun care products that are responsive to the needs of customers, regulators, and other stakeholders around the world.”

By Kristiana Lalou

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