Equity Firms Buy Haircare Product Company

Rustic Canyon/Fontis Partners, a Pasadena-based private equity fund, and St. Cloud Capital, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, have acquired the Johnson Products Co. unit of Procter & Gamble Co. RCJP Acquisition Inc., a newly formed entity made of the two firms, announced in a press release today that it closed on the acquisition. Proctor & Gamble operated the line of African American hair care products out of an office based in Woodland Hills, say RCJP officials. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. George Ellis Johnson Sr. founded Johnson Products in 1954. Procter & Gamble acquired it in 2003. Johnson Products now offers more than 30 hair care products such as “Gentle Treatment” and “Ultra Sheen, has annualized sales of more than $23 million, and is sold throughout the United States, according to the press release. Rustic Canyon/Fontis Partners is a private equity fund that primarily invests in companies in the Southwest that have sales between $10 million and $100 million. St. Cloud Capital is a private equity firm that provides growth capital to lower middle market companies throughout the U.S.