Brynwood Partners snaps up personal care company Newhall Labs

GREENWICH, Conn. — Brynwood Partners VI announced Friday that it acquired Newhall Labs — whose brands include La bella, Monkey Brains and GroWorks — through its wholly owned subsidiary Golden Sun Holdings, which marks Brynwood VI’s third acquisition in the personal care sector.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Newall Labs will operate as an independent platform company.

"We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Newhall Laboratories," stated Dario Margve, managing partner of Brynwood VI. "We believe that this will be a great new platform investment for our firm and look forward to not only bringing renewed attention and energy to la bella, Monkey Brains and GroWorks, but also to adding complementary brands to the company in the future."

Brynwood Partners has a track record of making acquisitions in the personal care sector with such investments as J.B. Williams Co. — a marketer of the Aqua Velva, Lectric Shave, Brylcreem, Cepacol and Williams Mug Soap brands — and, most recently, High Ridge Brands Co. Brynwood VI created High Ridge Brands through two separate transactions, one with Procter & Gamble and one with Unilever. High Ridge Brands acquired the Zest personal cleansing brand from P&G in January 2011 and the Alberto VO5 and Rave hair care brands from Unilever in August 2011.

Based in Stamford, Conn., High Ridge Brands has grown to approximately $200 million in sales in a nine-month period, the company stated.