On April 4, 2011, this information is official: Cattier Cosmetics, specialized in organic (“bio” in French) cosmetics, is controlled at 100% by Kneipp, after an agreement to sell all the shares of the French company. Nevertheless, instead of a takeover, Alexis Fort, the current Cattier CEO, who will be the manager of the new entity, refers to this merger as an association full of synergies and opportunities.
April 6, 2011
"Kneipp is a large company, but still a human-sized one,
Alexis Fort told CosmeticObs-L’Observatoire des Cosmétiques,
it is a family-run company and our respective views are very close."
With 400 employees and revenues of 100 million euros, Group Kneipp, which produces “natural” cosmetics, is far “heavier” than Cattier, with its 40 employees and revenues of 9 millions.
However, Alexis Fort, in no way, worries about being dwarfed by his new partner. On the contrary, he points out many advantages from this rapprochement: “Cattier is well introduced in France, not so in other countries. We will be better known in Germany first, and the world over later, and this is a dramatic outlook for an expansion of our brand. On the other hand, Kneipp, specialized in products for bath, is not very present in France,. Cattier will help it with its know-how in body- and facial- care. And we are all to gain through many internal synergies, in Research and Development (R and D), production, legal department …"
No firing in sight
"We need everybody, and everybody keeps his job, Alexis Fort says . Kneipp has no production facility in France, Cattier has Bondoufle’s. Cattier had no commercial …
