Revlon has announced the sale of its Worldwide Professional Products business, which includes Creative Nail Design, to The Colomer Group, a company formed by CVC Capital Partners, the Colomer family and other investors, led by Carlos Colomer, the former Chairman of Revlon Professional Products Worldwide.  The global company will operate out of Barcelona, Spain.  Carlos Colomer has spent his entire career in the professional beauty business, joining Revlon in 1969 when Revlon purchased his family’s company, Henry Colomer S.A., which manufactured and sold salon products, principally in Europe.  We talked with Creative Nail Design’s newly appointed president, John Heffner, to discuss how this acquisition would affect them, as a company, and you, their customers.

An Interview with John Heffner

NAILS: How will the sale affect nail professionals, if at all?

John Heffner: I think that from the nail technician’s point of view, as well as from our distributor’s point of view, it is going to be a seamless transition in that Creative Nail Design has always been an autonomous and separate operating unit [from its parent company].  That was the case with Revlon and that will continue to be the case with The Colomer Group.  We only view this as a net positive in that The Colomer Group has a professional heritage, it was first and foremost a family-run professional beauty business, and Carlos Colomer, the chairman of the new group, was raised in this business.

NAILS: Any impact on the way CND products are distributed or in distributor relationships?

JH: No, we do not anticipate any significant changes.  We have enjoyed a very deep relationship with our distributors for the past 20 years and we don’t see that fundamentally changing.

NAILS: It seemed like quite a long process and that it was well known that the company was for sale for a long time.  What was involved in the process?

JH: Any deal like this is filled with complexities.  I think that any deal of this magnitude requires a great deal of time to ensure all party interests are protected.  We’ve always been confident that Revlon had our best interest at heart and sure enough they did in that they sold us to a company that understands and appreciates who we are and what we do.

NAILS: Will Jan Arnold’s role in the company as chief spokesperson to the trade remain the same?

JH: Jan’s role, I believe, is going to be enhanced.  As co-founder, Jan’s primary focus has been to ensure that we adhere to our creative agenda.  In addition to this, Jan will directly manage our global PR efforts as well as continue to contribute as our industry’s leading education effort.

NAILS: What about Jim Nordstrom?

JH: Jim recently announced as of June 1^st that he will be pursuing other interests.  The spirit and philosophy that Jim so passionately instilled in all of us will always hold true for Creative.

NAILS: Any other organization changes?

JH: Absolutely there are.   Some were announced very recently.  I don’t think that my role will be different from what is has been [as general manager].  The important emphasis will be that our team works very closely together to do what we have always done, which is serve the needs of the professional nail technicians.

NAILS: What resources does The Colomer Group bring to the table that you’re excited about?

JH: I think that there is a tremendous amount of cross-pollination of ideas that is going to take place on a global basis because they are a European concern.  There is going to be a lot of idea sharing between the sister companies to come up with the best ways to manage our business.  They are a global enterprise and we are in a global economy, so there is nothing but upside associated with that.

NAILS: If techs have questions about the acquisition, where should they direct them?

JH: They can call our hotline number (800) 700-4939 ext. 206, which is manned all day, every day.  The hotline will refer any questions to the appropriate individual.