BOSTON — Yellow Wood Partners, LLC announced the purchase of Ilex Consumer Products Group, Inc. Ilex is a consumer brand management company that owns brands in the over-the-counter pharmaceutical sector as well as the health, bath and beauty sector. Among the ICPG brands are the St. Joseph family of products including the iconic St. Joseph™ aspirin, St. Joseph cough/cold/flu formulations and St. Joseph pediatric products, di-Gel digestive aid, Calgon® and The Healing Garden™. The Ilex purchase fits well with Yellow Wood’s strategy of investing in consumer brands where its operating focus can enhance the growth and profitability of brands with strong brand equity.
“The acquisition of Ilex confirms the Yellow Wood strategy of finding strong brands through our proprietary sourcing initiatives, diligencing the brands through our functional operating team and then acquiring the brands for good values,” said Dana Schmaltz, Partner at Yellow Wood. “It is exciting to have completed the acquisition of our second portfolio company. This was an exclusive opportunity where we worked with the sellers to reach an agreement that provided strong value for the initial work they had completed in re-launching the St. Joseph and Calgon brands, while allowing Yellow Wood to invest at a level we believe will provide attractive returns for our stakeholders.”
About Yellow Wood Partners Yellow Wood Partners is a Boston-based private equity firm focused on investing in consumer products brands and companies. The Yellow Wood approach places a greater focus on industry knowledge of the consumer space as well as the firm’s functional operational capabilities in the selection, diligence and management of the firm’s investments. Yellow Wood has also established a more appropriate alignment of interests among all the stakeholders in the firm, including the operating management teams of their portfolio companies, their private equity investors and the Yellow Wood principals. And so, Yellow Wood was created with the motto: “Taking the road less traveled in private equity.” For more information, please visit: www.yellowwoodpartners.com.
About Ilex Consumer Products Group, Inc. Based in Baltimore, MD, Ilex Consumer Products Group is a consumer brand management company that owns and licenses brands in the over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceutical sector and the health, bath and beauty sector. The brands marketed by Ilex are the St. Joseph family of products including St. Joseph™ aspirin and di-Gel antacids. The brands marketed in the health, bath and beauty sector are Calgon® and The Healing Garden™. These brands are sold in the food, drug and mass retail channels throughout the United States and Canada.