Global cosmetics original design manufacturer (ODM) corporations COSMAX has moved to fully target the European market by acquiring a local corporations in Italy. The plan is to diversify its supply chain with an Italian plant as a bridgehead and secure the competitiveness to replace France, which leads the global cosmetics market.
On the 23rd, according to the investment bank (IB) and retail sectors, COSMAX signed a stock purchase agreement (SPA) to acquire 51% equity of the Italian local cosmetics ODM corporations Keminova.
COSMAX currently has a sales office in Paris, France, but had no production facilities in Europe. Once this acquisition is completed, the number of countries with overseas production plants will increase to five. COSMAX operates production bases in Korea, China (Shanghai and Guangzhou), the United States, Indonesia, and Thailand, and produces about 3.3 billion products annually.
Europe is considered one of the world's largest cosmetics markets along with the United States and China. Earlier, Chair Lee Kyung-su of COSMAX said at a meeting for securities analysts held at COSMAX's headquarters in Pangyo, Gyeonggi, in Aug. last year that the company was pushing to secure production facilities in Europe.
COSMAX also chose a strategy of acquiring local plants when entering the United States in the past. In 2013, COSMAX acquired L'Oréal's plant in Solon, Ohio, for $11 million (about 16 billion won), established COSMAX USA in 2014, and began full-scale operations in 2016. In 2017, it acquired NuWorld, a color cosmetics manufacturer in New Jersey, and has integrated the two corporations since 2023.
COSMAX has already secured a variety of European clients, including L'Oréal and LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy). The industry expects that if COSMAX establishes a production base in Italy, local delivery will become possible, making it easier to handle small-lot, multi-item orders, and speeding up quality and certification responses tailored to European regulations. The analysis is that it can strengthen its competitiveness in the European market, where a demanding regulatory environment and premium demand coexist.
Last year, COSMAX laid the groundwork for entering Europe by forming a strategic partnership in cosmetics clinical trials with Eurofins, a French clinical agency. Founded in 1987, Eurofins is a global testing and certification corporations operating more than 950 laboratories worldwide.
COSMAX's recent adoption of the next-generation sun protection factor (SPF) test method "ISO 23675," the first in the domestic industry, is also linked to its push into Europe. ISO 23675 is an in vitro test method that measures performance in the lab without direct application to the human body and is being adopted as the SPF labeling standard in the European market. A COSMAX official said, "We are reviewing various options to secure production facilities in Europe."