International Business

Seeking to expand its capabilities to European retailers and distributors in discovering new and emerging global brands in food, HBC and general merchandise, ECRM has launched a business unit that consists of a team of multilingual sales and account management staff.

Independent African-American owned Essence Ventures has announced the acquisition of the multi-platform media company Essence Communications from Time.

The New York City-based company’s current president, Michelle Ebanks will continue at the helm of the company and join its board of directors. In addition, the all Black female executive team of Essence including Ebanks will have an equity stake in the business.

As good as Walgreens performed behind the back bench this past quarter, the company’s continued focus on enhancing its beauty offerings is expected to lead improvements across the front-end as Walgreens plans to amalgamate the many store format pilots it has been testing into one of many yet-to-be-identified stores.

Stamford, Conn.-based Henkel embraced the season of giving by announcing their participation in NBC’s Today Show Toy Drive for the sixth consecutive year. The company which includes Dial, Persil, Purex and Snuggle within its portfolio, donated a total of more than $1 million in laundry and beauty care products to a variety of charities across the United States.

Within its six years of participation, Henkel also has donated a cumulative of $3 million in products, the company said. 

It has been announced that Walgreens Boots Alliance will be reducing its stake in Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a pharmaceutical wholesaling joint venture in China. This announcement comes after the Deerfield, Ill.-based company announced plans earlier this year their plans to take a 40% stake in Sinopharm Holding GuoDa Drugstores.

London-based Unilever, a leading brand in personal care, home care, food and refreshments has received an offer from KKR — a global investment firm that manages multiple asset classes including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate and credit — to purchase its global Spreads business. The offer is for €6.825 billion in Euros and is expected to be on a cash-free and debt-free basis. 

Hershey’s has announced that it has entered an agreement to acquire Austin, Texas-based Amplify Snack Brands. This deal includes all outstanding shares of Amplify for $12.00 per share in cash.