Yellow Wood, out fundraising, said to make 12x on PDC sale

Yellow Wood Partners made more than 12x its money with the sale of PDC Brands, according to a source.

The consumer-focused private equity firm said July 5 that it closed the sale of PDC to CVC Capital Partners. The deal was valued at $1.425 billion.

PDC, Stamford, Connecticut, is a personal-care company with products in the wellness, hair-care, beauty and cosmetics space. PDC brands include Cantu, Body Fantasies and Dr Teal’s.

Yellow Wood’s investment in PDC dates to 2012 when the Boston PE firm acquired a majority of Parfums de Coeur, a provider of copies of branded fragrances. Parfums de Coeur, or PDC, has since completed five add-ons, including its buy of Dr. Teal’s Therapeutic Solutions in 2014.

PDC’s revenue during Yellow Wood’s ownership quadrupled while EBITDA increased by more than 5x, the firm said in a statement.

The PDC investment came from Yellow Wood’s first fund, which raised $225 million in 2012. Yellow Wood is fundraising for its second pool, which has a $360 million target. Yellow Wood Fund II in mid-April had so far collected $180 million, PE HUB reported.

Yellow Wood, the name of which stems from the Robert Frost poem (“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood. … I took the road less traveled by”), was founded in 2011. The firm typically invests $10 million to $80 million of equity per deal. Yellow Wood looks to buy branded consumer products in channels such as drug, food, specialty, club and e-commerce.

The much bigger CVC, of Luxembourg, is using its sixth flagship fund to invest in PDC. CVC Fund VI collected $14.9 billion in 2014. The European buyout shop, whose deals include Formula One, Anchor Glass and Petco, is in the market with its seventh flagship. CVC is seeking 15 billion euro ($16 billion) for its latest fund, Buyouts has reported.

Action Item: Email Dana Schmaltz, a Yellow Wood partner, at dschmaltz@yellowwoodpartners.com

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