PARIS — Kering Beauté has made its first acquisition: Creed.

The French luxury house said Monday that it has purchased the totality of the high-end area of interest fragrance house that’s controlled by BlackRock Long Term Private Capital Europe and the present chairman Javier Ferrán.

Financial terms of the all-cash transaction weren’t disclosed.

Creed will join other perfume brands in Kering Beauté’s stable that include Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Pomellato and Qeelin.

Creed is the primary area of interest fragrance brand to be owned by Kering, which announced early this yr that it was creating an in-house beauty division.

The high-end luxury fragrance segment is a hot commodity today, among the many fastest growing in beauty. It’s been registering double-digit growth, plus high profitability and revenue reoccurrence.

Creed dates back to 1760, when it was begun by James Henry Creed through the reign of King George III of England. Creed was first established as a tailor and later a fragrance house. Over time, the Creed family produced greater than 200 perfumes, including the cult bestselling men’s fragrance Aventus Cologne, Viking, Himalaya and Green Irish Tweed.

Based in Paris, with a factory in nearby Fontainebleau, Creed manufactures a lot of its own essences using a standard infusion technique that permits Creed to take care of the standard and authenticity of its fragrances.

In a press release Kering called Creed is the biggest global indie high-end fragrance-maker.

Creed was sold by the Creed family to BlackRock and Ferrán in early 2020, when industry sources estimated that Creed’s revenues were in excess of $200 million.

“The acquisition of Creed is a serious step for Kering Beauté,” Kering said in a press release. “An ideal fit with its portfolio of renowned luxury brands, it immediately provides Kering Beauté with the required scale, an impressive financial profile, in addition to a platform, supporting the long run development of other Kering Beauté fragrance franchises, by leveraging particularly Creed’s global distribution network.”

Kering Beauté said that while maintaining the heritage and high-end image of Creed, it can further unlock the brand’s potential in all markets, channels and categories, especially via its development in China and travel retail, in addition to expand further in the female fragrance portfolio, body and residential categories.

“The sweetness category is a natural extension of Kering’s luxury universe, and the group is confident its expansion on this strategic segment will create lasting value for the group and its houses,” Kering said.

The deal is anticipated to shut within the second half of this yr.

“The acquisition of Creed represents Kering Beauté’s first strategic initiative, and demonstrates our commitment to developing a robust position in the luxurious beauty segment,” said François-Henri Pinault, chairman and chief executive officer of Kering, in a press release.

“I’m thrilled that today our stories and values come together around this spirit of family entrepreneurship and excellence to speed up our journey in beauty, and I’m delighted that the brand is joining Kering’s collection of luxury houses,” he said.

“The House of Creed is recognized as considered one of the few leading global luxury fragrance brands, synonymous with exclusivity and creativity,” said Jean-François Palus, group managing director of Kering. “We’re confident that this landmark acquisition will facilitate and amplify our development in fragrance. It is a milestone in the event of Kering Beauté, as we consider greater than ever within the strong potential of our brands in beauty.”

After months of speculation, Kering in early February said it has begun taking its beauty business back in-house, and that it had appointed Raffaella Cornaggia as CEO of Kering Beauté, a recent position in a recent division.

She reports to Palus and has been charged with developing with a team an expertise in the sweetness category for Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Pomellato and Qeelin.

On the time, Kering said: “The creation of Kering Beauté will enable the group to support these brands in the event of the sweetness category, which is a natural extension of their universe.”

Until then the thrill had been intensifying about whether Kering would make such a move and if that’s the case, what which may take, especially with regard to jewels within the crown, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, that are licensed to Coty Inc. and L’Oréal, respectively.

Kering is not any stranger to beauty. Until the late 2000s, the group, then called PPR, took a more hands-on approach to fragrance and cosmetics. On the time, PPR’s Gucci Group had a beauty subsidiary named YSL Beauté, which included fragrance and wonder brands and licenses, corresponding to Yves Saint Laurent, Stella McCartney, Boucheron and Ermenegildo Zegna, before it was sold to L’Oréal in 2008 for 1.15 billion euros.

Today, Gucci has a 50-year beauty license that’s held by Coty and expected to run out in 2028. The Yves Saint Laurent license with L’Oréal is long run.

Amongst Kering’s other owned fashion and jewellery labels, Interparfums runs Boucheron’s business in perfume, while Lalique Group develops Brioni’s fragrance activity.

Industry experts consider it makes good strategic sense for Kering to sharpen its give attention to beauty, especially because the group now has a stronger balance sheet and net money position with which to perform deals.

But Kering Beauté is up against some formidable competitors. LVMH — which has 15 brands, including Parfums Cristian Dior and Guerlain, in its Perfumes and Cosmetics division — in March reorganized that branch, naming Stéphane Rinderknech as its chairman and CEO. There had been nobody executive helming that division for many years.

In accordance with WWD Beauty Inc’s Top 100 Rating of beauty manufacturers, reflecting 2022 sales, LVMH placed sixth, Shiseido fifth, Procter & Gamble fourth, the Estée Lauder Cos. third, Unilever second and L’Oréal first.

Luxury goods firms, corresponding to Puig, have over the past decade been taking back full control of the brands they own. That may pack a strong punch, giving them more consistency, synergies and power.

There’s something of an an arms race today to accumulate and put money into area of interest fragrance brands. The category has been the largest driver within the premium fragrance segment, which grew 9.1 percent to $57.36 billion and is forecast to rise one other 7.9 percent between 2022 and 2023, and 6.7 percent between 2023 and 2024, in line with Euromonitor International.

Last week, Advent International acquired Parfums de Marly and Initio Parfums Privés in a deal estimated by industry sources to be greater than $700 million. Also this month, a majority stake in Sabé Masson, which began with solid fragrances, was sold to Boris Gratini et Hélène Ortola.

In May, Juliette Has a Gun raised a recent round of funding with Cathay Capital, as did Perfumer H, with Natura & Co.’s enterprise capital fund Fable Investments.