Ropes & Gray Advised OLAPLEX in $1.4B Sale to Henkel

Ropes & Gray represented health and beauty company OLAPLEX, a portfolio company of Advent International, in the $1.4 billion sale of the company to Henkel, a global manufacturer of well-known consumer and industrial brands. The transaction, announced on March 26, will combine OLAPLEX’s strong North American direct-to-consumer and specialty retail presence with Henkel’s international footprint.

Upon closing, OLAPLEX will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Henkel. Advent will fully exit its investment in the company. Ropes & Gray represented Advent in its acquisition of OLAPLEX in 2019 and represented OLAPLEX in its 2021 IPO.

Founded in 2014, OLAPLEX revolutionized prestige hair care with its first-of-its-kind Complete Bond technology, which works by protecting, strengthening, and relinking all three bonds during and after hair services. Since then, OLAPLEX has expanded into a full suite of hair health formulas.

Advent is a leading global private equity investor committed to working in partnership with management teams, entrepreneurs, and founders to help transform businesses. With 16 offices across five continents, Advent oversees more than $100 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2025, and has made 435 investments across 44 countries.

The deal team was led by M&A partner and consumer & retail brands group co-chair Craig Marcus, M&A partner Sarah Young, and M&A counsel Nicholas Roper, and included antitrust partners Jonathan Klarfeld and Ruchit Patel, litigation & enforcement partners Rocky Tsai and Martin Crisp, tax partner Adam Greenwood, life sciences regulatory & compliance partner Lincoln Tsang, IP transactions partner Erica Han, executive compensation & employee benefits partners Allie Alperovich, Jennifer Rikoski Whitney, and Kyle Higley, employment partner Megan Bisk, and data, privacy, & cybersecurity partner Ed McNicholas.