1996 L'Oreal Won Bidding War with German Based Company to Purchase Maybelline and Become Maybelline New York

The original Maybelline Company was founded in 1915, by a nineteen year old boy from Morganfield Kentucky, named Tom Lyle Williams, who turned a 500 dollar loan from his brother Noel J. Williams into a 133 million dollar company.

1967 Williams sold Maybelline to Plough, Inc. which then merged with Schering, becoming Schering-Plough.

1990, Schering-Plough sold Maybelline to a New York investment firm, Wasserstein Perella.
1996 Maybelline company sold to L'Oreal after a tough bidding war Germany's Joh. A. Benckiser GmbH.
Here is the breakdown on the bidding war and sale of the Maybelline Company from Wasserstein Perella to L'Oreal.

NEWS

Government clears Maybelline takeover: L'Oreal SA's $758...

February 8, 1996Government clears Maybelline takeover: L'Oreal SA's $758 million buyout of cosmetics rival Maybelline Inc. received approval from Justice Department antitrust officials without objections. L'Oreal, after a bidding war for Maybelline with Germany's Joh. A. Benckiser GmbH, said its $44 tender offer for all Maybelline shares is scheduled to expire Friday. Paris-based L'Oreal last month agreed to pay $44 a share for Maybelline and assume $150 million in debt, paying $100...

L'oreal Is Maybelline's Preference

By Stanley Ziemba | January 23, 1996Maybelline Inc.'s directors recommended selling the Memphis-based cosmetics company to L'Oreal SA after the Paris-based cosmetics firm outbid Germany's Benckiser GmbH with an offer of $758 million. Benckiser said it will not make a counteroffer, ending the nine-day bidding war for the third-largest U.S. cosmetics maker. B302

German Suitor Pursues Maybelline

By Stanley Ziemba | January 20, 1996U.S. cosmetics giant Maybelline Inc. said that German cosmetics maker Joh A. Benckiser GmbH is willing to offer more money to buy out Maybelline than France's L'Oreal. L'Oreal on Thursday offered $720 million for Memphis-based Maybelline. The firm said Benckiser indicated in a letter that it would be willing to top that bid.BUSINESSNEWS

Maybelline bidding war: The German company that it is in a...

January 19, 1996Maybelline bidding war: The German company that it is in a bidding war for Maybelline Inc. declined to comment on the increased offer for the cosmetics-maker by France's L'Oreal SA. L'Oreal on Thursday raised its bid to $570 million, or $41 a share, after Joh. A. Benckiser GmbH made its unsolicited $514 million offer, equal to $37 a share, on Wednesday. L'Oreal had agreed in December to buy Maybelline, one of the leading American cosmetics companies, for about $510...

BUSINESS

Maybelline Whisked Away By New Suitor

By George Lazarus | June 8, 1990Nearly in the blink of an eyelash, Schering-Plough Corp. has found a new buyer for its Maybelline operation. The new parent of Maybelline is Wasserstein Perella, one of the more prominent Manhattan wheeler-dealer firms, which plunked down $300 million for the Memphis-based cosmetics maker. That price is essentially the same as MBP Acquisition Corp., another investment group, agreed to in early April in cutting a deal for Maybelline, a firm with annual sales of about $300 million.
BUSINESS

Maybelline Sale Now Only A Maybe

By George Lazarus | June 7, 1990Schering-Plough Corp.'s deal to unload its Maybelline operation has run into a snag. MBP Acquisition Corp., an Eastern investment group that in early April agreed to acquire the Memphis-based cosmetics maker for $300 million, has backed away from the deal, sources say. MBP, whose other interests include Playtex lines of products, reportedly couldn`t come up with sufficient financing. Closing had been scheduled by the end of this month. Other sources suggested that MBP balked at the...

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT MAYBELLINE - PAGE 2

BUSINESS

- Schering-Plough Corp., seeking to disentangle itself...

April 4, 1990- Schering-Plough Corp., seeking to disentangle itself from the financially unpredictable beauty-products business, agreed to sell its Maybelline unit for $300 million to a group including the unit's management and Playtex Family Products Corp. The price was below what analysts thought the unit would fetch.

Maybelline Will Be Seductive To Many

By George Lazarus | December 13, 1989Long-rumored buyout target Maybelline was officially put on the block Tuesday, its owner, Schering-Plough, set to field what likely will be a horde of prospective buyers. While acquisition-hungry Unilever has been identified as a prime potential buyer, a source close to Schering-Plough said, "With Maybelline on the loose, I think you`ll find buyers coming out of the woodwork." One possibility may even be a leveraged buyout by Maybelline's management, which soon will be headed by...