, Columnist
Will a $10 Billion Skincare Buyout Leave a Rash?
Swedish private equity firm EQT is paying a full price for part of Nestle.
A Nestle birds nest logo.
Photographer: Stefan Wermuth/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
$10 billion leveraged buyouts don’t come round often and, when they do, the U.S. private equity goliaths tend to nab them. Nestle SA’s auction of its skin health unit has ended with a surprise European winner: Swedish private equity firm EQT Partners.
It’s a pricey transaction that will test the received wisdom that orphan assets in big conglomerates can be turbocharged by private equity. Securing such a high-profile target should also help to burnish EQT’s credentials as it weighs its own initial public offering.