Unilever completes Alberto Culver acquisition

London & Rotterdam – – Unilever and the Alberto Culver Company today jointly confirmed that, further to the announcement on May 6, they have obtained the necessary regulatory clearances, and Unilever has acquired the Alberto Culver Company.

About the Acquisition:
Unilever is paying $3.7 billion in cash for the Alberto Culver Company, which generated annual sales in excess of €1.2 billion (US$1.6 billion) in fiscal year 2010. With the acquisition, Unilever becomes the world’s leading company in hair conditioning, the second largest in shampoo and the third largest in styling.

About Unilever
Unilever works to create a better future every day. We help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others.

Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods with strong operations in more than 100 countries and sales in 180. Consumers buy 170bn Unilever packs around the world every year, and our products are used over two billion times a day.

Our portfolio includes some of the world’s best known and most loved brands including twelve €1 billion brands, and global leadership in many categories in which we operate. The portfolio features iconic brands such as: Knorr, Hellmann’s, Lipton, Dove, Vaseline, Persil, Cif, Marmite and Pot Noodle.

We have around 167,000 employees in over 100 countries, and generated annual sales of €44.3 billion in 2010. For more information about Unilever and its brands, please visit www.unilever.com.

We recently launched the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan aiming to halve our overall environmental footprint. Unilever is Food Industry Leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Indexes for the 12th year running. We are included in the FTSE4Good Index Series and attained a top environmental score of 5, leading to inclusion in the FTSE4Good Environmental Leaders Europe 40 Index. We are also ranked 7th in the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World, a list compiled by Corporate Knights Magazine. We achieved Platinum Plus standard in the UK’s Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index 2009, and were named Company of the Year in 2010.

About Alberto Culver Company
Alberto Culver Company manufactures, distributes and markets leading beauty care and other personal care brands including TRESemmé, Alberto VO5, Nexxus, St. Ives, Simple and Noxzema in the United States and internationally. It is also the second largest producer in the U.S. of products for the ethnic hair care market with leading brands including Motions and Soft & Beautiful. For more information visit: www.alberto.com.