US home cleaning, personal care and pest control giant SC Johnson has signed an agreement to acquire leading green cleaning brands Ecover and Method from People Against Dirty. Terms of the sale have not been disclosed.
“Method and Ecover have a strong tradition of innovation and delivering on consumers’ needs. They are a great complement to SC Johnson’s trusted lineup of iconic brands,” said Fisk Johnson, Chairman and CEO of SC Johnson.
SC Johnson – with sales of over $12 billion – is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of household cleaning products and products for air care, home storage, shoe care, personal care and pest control. Its brands include Glade, Kiwi, Pledge, Windex, Raid and Tana.
SC Johnson, a family owned business, says that the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals in the US, UK and Germany.
Ecover, a standard bearer for green cleaning products in Europe for over 35 years, was founded in 1980 by Frans Bogaerts to create phosphate-free cleaning products to reduce the environmental impact of cleaning agents. In the early 1990s the business was sold to Bogaerts’ son and relaunched – now with substantial private investment – in 1992. Construction of an “ecological factory” began, followed by investments into research projects for the purpose of developing appropriate plant-based and renewable raw materials for cleaning products.
In 2012 Ecover, part of Skagen Conscience Capital, bought Method Products, a San Francisco, United States headquartered manufacturer of biodegradable natural cleaning supplies with a focus on minimalist product design, to assist its entry of the North American market. The new group had annual revenues of $200 million at that time and was the world’s largest green cleaning products company by sales. Method had been founded in 2001 by Eric Ryan, a designer and marketer, and Adam Lowry, a chemical engineer. Method opened a factory in the Pullman neighborhood of Chicago in 2015.
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