Private Equity Emerges as Likeliest Buyer for Colgate Brands

Softsoap, Irish Spring and Speed Stick are household names, but their next owner is more likely to be a private-equity firm than another consumer-products giant.

Colgate-Palmolive is exploring a sale of the three mass-market personal-care brands with Goldman Sachs advising, Reuters reported on September 11, 2026, citing people familiar with the matter. The package could command more than $1 billion, although Colgate has not confirmed a transaction or identified a buyer.

The portfolio pruning comes as Colgate tries to repair a sluggish North American business. Second-quarter North America sales fell to $891 million from $919 million a year earlier, while the company recorded a $129 million charge under its Strategic Growth and Productivity Program. Management has described the U.S. turnaround as a long-term project, making mature soap and deodorant brands obvious candidates for separation.

Private equity has the clearest playbook for that kind of deal. Yellow Wood Partners, a consumer-focused sponsor, bought Unilever’s Elida Beauty portfolio, which included more than 20 brands, and recently agreed to acquire Nestlé’s mainstream vitamins business for $1 billion. Those transactions rely on operational separation, focused marketing and the belief that a brand can grow faster outside a sprawling parent company.

The obvious corporate buyers face less attractive math. Church & Dwight has the category expertise and a history of acquisitions, but it just bought Touchland and Miss Mouth’s Messy Eater, the latter for approximately $325 million. Its recent activity has favored faster-growing or digitally distinctive brands, not a large bundle of legacy supermarket products.

Edgewell Personal Care is an even cleaner strategic fit for Speed Stick, given its Schick, Banana Boat and Cremo brands. Yet Edgewell recently sold its Feminine Care business to Essity for $340 million and has been concentrating on debt reduction and portfolio simplification. Financing a multibrand purchase would run against that strategy.

Kenvue is effectively unavailable. Its shareholders approved Kimberly-Clark’s roughly $48.7 billion acquisition, which is expected to close in the second half of 2026, pending remaining regulatory steps. Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Reckitt have the balance sheets, but none has been linked to the process, and Unilever is itself shedding mature brands.

For Colgate, the sale would raise cash and narrow the U.S. portfolio. It would not, by itself, fix weak category growth or lost shelf space. The buyer’s ability to revive the brands will determine whether this is a smart carveout or simply a smaller Colgate.