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Edgewell Personal Care will NOT purchase Harry's

Several months ago, Edgewell Personal Care announced a plan to purchase Harry's, including the new razor plant Harry's built in Germany. The plan was approved by both companies. However, since Edgewell produces Personna, Schick, and Wilkinson Sword Classic among their various brands, the US Federal Trade Commission sued to block the sale on the grounds that the combined company would reduce competition in the razor blade market with potential higher prices for consumers. Edgewell has decided that fighting the lawsuit in court would be too costly. Thus, plans for the buyout have been scrapped.

Apparently, Edgewell stockholders are pleased at the announcement, their stock climbed significantly. Although Harry's has experienced significant growth, they have been losing money. Harry's is not pleased with Edgewell dropping their buyout plans.

Around the same time as the the earlier announcement of the buyout, Edgewell announced they would be closing the Personna manufacturing plant in Bethlehem, Israel. Presumably, this was part of reorganization plans to consolidate following the acquisition of the Harry's plant in Germany. However, now that this will not be occurring, I wonder what will happen with the plant in Israel. Since one of my favorite blade brands, Personna Israeli Reds, is made in the Bethlehem plant, I rather hope that it keeps operating.
 
I am sure the people who live in the West Bank appreciate that it will not be closing. Not much work there
 
I thought the project to close the plant pre-dated any plans to buy Harry's. That wasn't the German plant they likely would have moved production to anyway; Edgewell has the plant in Solingen where Wilkinson Sword blades are made.

But who knows. The Nazareth plant was supposed to be closed by now anyway, if they stuck to their original schedule. But then, if there's one thing I know about large company projects, it's that you're more likely to see the abominable snowman riding a unicorn over a double rainbow than to see a project finish on schedule.

I thought it was interesting that Edgewell's stock went up after news of the failed sale. The market must have thought they were overpaying for Harry's. Which they might well have been doing, but I'm not qualified to have an informed opinion about it.
 
The initial announcement that Edgewell would purchase Harry's came in May 2019. The announcement of the closure of the Israeli plant came in July 2019. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that the two announcements are in some way linked. However, that may not be the case. We will have to wait and see what happens.

Is the Wilkinson Sword plant in Germany sufficiently large to accommodate making blades for Personna, Crystal, and a large number of private label products in addition to the Wilkinson Sword Classic blades? I do not know the answer to that one.
 
The initial announcement that Edgewell would purchase Harry's came in May 2019. The announcement of the closure of the Israeli plant came in July 2019. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that the two announcements are in some way linked. However, that may not be the case. We will have to wait and see what happens.

Is the Wilkinson Sword plant in Germany sufficiently large to accommodate making blades for Personna, Crystal, and a large number of private label products in addition to the Wilkinson Sword Classic blades? I do not know the answer to that one.

The announcement was made in October 2018.


Nazareth Production Facility In October 2018, the Company announced its intention to close its production facility in Nazareth, Israel as part of Project Fuel. The production from this site will be redistributed across multiple locations best positioned to serve regional needs. The transfer of production will take approximately 12 to 18 months to complete during which the facility will continue to operate.
 
I’m optimistic that there might be Solingen Reds in the near future. Munich Reds? Cincinnati Reds?

Well, once upon a time the private label blades on the hang tag in the drugstore said "made in USA", then starting about 20 years ago they said "made in Israel", and now at some point in the indeterminate future they'll say "made in Germany" or "made in EU" or something like that instead. And then we can decide what we think of them. The Israel blades weren't quite like the USA made blades, but they made lots of people happy. All we can do is hope that whatever comes out of Germany in the near future is a blade that makes lots of people happy.
 
Well, once upon a time the private label blades on the hang tag in the drugstore said "made in USA", then starting about 20 years ago they said "made in Israel", and now at some point in the indeterminate future they'll say "made in Germany" or "made in EU" or something like that instead. And then we can decide what we think of them. The Israel blades weren't quite like the USA made blades, but they made lots of people happy. All we can do is hope that whatever comes out of Germany in the near future is a blade that makes lots of people happy.

Me too!
 
a real pity. Bot could have gained. Now i think Harry's has a brighter future than Edgewell anyway, since the latter has been losing sales for ages.
 
a real pity. Bot could have gained. Now i think Harry's has a brighter future than Edgewell anyway, since the latter has been losing sales for ages.

I understand that Gillette has been losing sales as well. Although Harry's has been gaining market share, they have failed to make a profit; they may have broken even in 2019. That is why they wanted to be acquired by Edgewell.

Edgewell was originally planning to pay $1.37 Billion for Harry's. The start-up has only a 2.6% share of the US shaving market. They anticipate turning a profit of $20 million by 2023. At that rate, it would take Edgewell a very long time to recover their investment. Thus, Edgewell shareholders were not pleased with the initial deal. Thus, when the FTC sued to block the deal, Edgewell did not complain. However, Harry's is now filing suit against Edgewell for failing to complete the deal.
 
The start-up has only a 2.6% share of the US shaving market.
are you sure? "So far this year, Harry’s has 7.8% of sales in the wet shave market, compared to Procter & Gamble’s Gillette with 55.6% and Schick’s 12.8%, according to data from research firm Nielsen."
 
These blades have been on my radar for some time - having heard very good things about them from many of you - but I had never pulled the trigger. That just changed and I ordered 100. Thanks for posting this one, Ray!

I look forward to another very smooth blade.
 
are you sure? "So far this year, Harry’s has 7.8% of sales in the wet shave market, compared to Procter & Gamble’s Gillette with 55.6% and Schick’s 12.8%, according to data from research firm Nielsen."


I believe the 2.6% was data for 2018 provided by CNBC. That would have been the data upon which the May 2019 Edgewell bid was based. The current market share might indeed be higher.

The interesting thing is that when Edgewell announced the bid to buy Harry's, the Edgewell stock dropped by about 20%. When FTC sued to block the merger, Edgewell backed out of the deal, The Edgewell stock price jumped up, but has since tracked the overall stock market due to global economic concerns. Thus, it appears Edgewell investors were never sold on the deal with Harry's. Only time will tell if they were right.
 
I believe the 2.6% was data for 2018 provided by CNBC. That would have been the data upon which the May 2019 Edgewell bid was based. The current market share might indeed be higher.

The interesting thing is that when Edgewell announced the bid to buy Harry's, the Edgewell stock dropped by about 20%. When FTC sued to block the merger, Edgewell backed out of the deal, The Edgewell stock price jumped up, but has since tracked the overall stock market due to global economic concerns. Thus, it appears Edgewell investors were never sold on the deal with Harry's. Only time will tell if they were right.
the problem with edgewell is they have an awful lot of not-coordinated products (including the garbage from private labels like personnas cartridges, etc). And an history of being the "the idiot brother of gillette" (as we say in italy) ;)
 
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