Bain Capital Acquires Majority Stake in Hand in Hand

Bain Capital has acquired a majority stake in personal care brand Hand in Hand through Bain Capital Double Impact, its fund for purpose-driven businesses.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed, although are said to fall within the range of the typical $25 million to $75 million of the fund’s transactions.

“Hand in Hand crosses two of our verticals: sustainability and health and wellness,” said Cecilia Chao, managing director of Bain Capital Double Impact. “We’re very interested in the personal care space — it’s a $15 billion category that was growing double-digits even before the pandemic — but other assets weren’t as distinctive as Hand in Hand because of the clean ingredients,” she said.

Hand in Hand was founded by Bill Glaab and Courtney Apple in 2011, hoping to formulate personal care products with clean ingredients, to be sold in recyclable aluminum packaging. All of the products, for sustainability purposes, are free of palm oil.

The brand’s sales increased 13 times in 2020, thanks to its 2017 pivot to the mass market. “We’re in Walgreens, CVS, Whole Foods, Target, Wegmans, Walmart, CVS and Kroger. We grew the business piece by piece, and never had an equity investor before,” said Glaab, chief executive officer of Hand in Hand.

Bain is aiming to follow a similar playbook to Sundial Brands, in which it acquired a minority stake in 2015. “The brand has a lot of momentum, and while I never like to throw anything out, this is more about organic growth,” Chao said. “We have to be able to invest behind marketing trade spend, driving consumer awareness, and making sure that retailer partnerships are working.”