P&G is officially diving back into the high-end beauty pool.

The patron products giant announced it has created a latest division, Specialty Beauty, that can include brands that operate in specialty and/or prestige retail channels across brick-and-mortar and direct-to-consumer.

That features the three brands P&G snapped up in late 2021 for greater than $1 billion — the skincare lines, Farmacy and Tula Skincare, and hair care business, Ouai, in addition to First Aid Beauty, which it bought in 2018. Most of the brands that P&G has incubated in-house, including See Me Beauty, skincare targeting women over 50, and Keep It Anchored, a clinically proven hair care range supporting hair retention, may also be housed in the brand new division, and SK-II’s North American business may also be a part of the organization.

Chris Heiert, who was senior vice chairman, North America skincare and brand franchise leader, has been named senior vice chairman of the Specialty Beauty division. He reports to Alex Keith, chief executive officer of P&G Beauty. The acquired brands will retain their current leadership structure, with their respective ceos reporting to Heiert.

“Because of our consistent growth, successful latest brand creation and continued portfolio expansion through stand-out acquisitions, it’s an exciting time to work for P&G Beauty,” Heiert said. “I’m absolutely privileged to be leading P&G Beauty’s expansion into the specialty retail channel, where I’ll enable our portfolio of acquired and incubated brands to attach with latest consumers, latest channels and latest innovation. Our mutual focus as a fastidiously curated portfolio will likely be to meaningfully grow the Specialty beauty categories where we’re present today, but it surely’s essential to notice these successful businesses will proceed to operate independently with their current leadership and teams, each growing their businesses within the ways they know best.”

In fact, this isn’t the primary time that P&G has waded into the prestige waters. By the early- to mid-Aughts, the corporate had amassed a big beauty portfolio that spanned categories and channels. It included every part from Cover Girl makeup within the mass channel to Hugo Boss and Dolce & Gabbana fragrances in prestige to Wella within the skilled sector. But within the volatile environment following the 2008 economic crisis and amid a leadership vacuum, P&G’s beauty business declined. In 2015, it announced it was selling 41 brands to Coty Inc. in a $12.5 billion deal that closed the next yr.

Since then, P&G retrenched, bringing experienced leaders including Patrice Louvet and Keith back to the business. Louvet left in 2017 to assist Ralph Lauren, and Keith took the reins, ushering in an age of accelerated growth. Analysts wish to the last 4 years as evidence that the foray into specialty beauty will likely be brighter this time around.

“Alex has done a great job and he or she’s done what she said she would do,” said Mark Astrachan, managing director of beverages, household and private products and hardlines retail at Stifel. “They’ve had loads of success with SK-II, so perhaps they see this as a logical extension.

“Specializing in skin health is smart,” he continued, “so I believe investors are greater than willing to allow them to do the deals on this space due to competency and credibility they’ve built up.”

Astrachan noted that the wonder push is smart, each in context of a category that continues to grow, but in addition within the scope of P&G’s overall business. “In the event that they wish to do M&A, there are two logical categories — health and beauty care,” he said. “They underindex in overall share in those categories — they’ve good representation, but they might use more.”

Jefferies analyst Steph Wissink calls the move a “restart,” noting, “it feels a bit of bit like déjà vu because specialty beauty was a very critical strategy for them about 15 years ago. They built up and aligned the portfolio, and ultimately elected to exit with the sale to Coty.”

“Now we’re form of restarting. It’s an interesting exercise in large multinational holding company conglomerates and the way in which through which they engage in and pull back from categories,” she continued.

Wissink suggested the choice may revolve around a number of aspects, including “organizational alignment around a typical set of metrics,” in addition to a portfolio approach to leveraging insights and distribution, plus organizing brands around common insights and innovations.

One key difference this go-around is that the brands will proceed to run their very own businesses — the acquired brands will report back to Heiert in what P&G is asking a “partnership” versus “reporting line.”

It’s an approach that retailers and analysts applaud. “P&G understands the importance of constructing strong marketing strategies tailored to every brand’s unique point of difference,” said Artemis Patrick, executive vice chairman, global chief merchandising officer, Sephora. “We look ahead to our continued partnership with the group.”

The strategy is smart given the success of the brands that attracted P&G to them in the primary place. On the time of acquisition, industry sources estimated Farmacy to have a net sales volume of $80 million with EBITDA of $15 million to $20 million; Ouai is believed to have been at $50 million in net sales with an EBITDA of $10 million, and Tula’s net sales are said to be $150 million with $30 million EBITDA. P&G reportedly valued the companies at $300 million, $200 million to $250 million, and $750 million, respectively.

P&G executives declined to comment on those figures.