Packaging / Advertising & Office

Recently, Carlyle, a global investment group, announced that it agreed to acquire 100% equity of HCP packaging group (hereinafter referred to as "HCP"), a cosmetics packaging supplier, from the affiliated fund of baring Asia (BPEA). HCP is a leading manufacturer of cosmetics packaging materials in the world.

Founded in 1960 and headquartered in Shanghai, HCP is one of the largest suppliers of cosmetics packaging materials in the world. It has 10 first-class production and manufacturing bases in China, the United States, Mexico and Europe. The company produces award-winning packaging designs and is committed to developing and investing in sustainable packaging solutions for the beauty industry. The company cooperates with more than 250 world-famous cosmetics, skin care products and perfume brands such as Estee Lauder, L'Oreal and Shiseido.

During baring's shareholding in Asia, HCP experienced revolutionary growth. With the support of baring Asia, HCP has become an increasingly powerful primary packaging supplier of cosmetics and skin care products, and expanded its product technology and business footprint.

Hu Mingji, President and CEO of HCP, said: "We are proud to be the world's leading manufacturer of cosmetic packaging and thank baring Asia for its support over the past six and a half years. We will continue to focus on the strategic focus of sustainable packaging technology innovation and provide the best service and first-class operation to customers all over the world. We are glad to cooperate with Carlyle. It is our honor to have such an excellent shareholder. We hope to use Carlyle's global platform advantages to achieve the next stage of growth Long, enhance the leading position in the international market. "

"Double 11 beauty top30, only 2 are not our customers"

"In the double 11 in 2019, only two of the top 30 brands in beauty sales are not our customers."

On the first day of the first day, lihongxiang, sales director of HCP Xingzhong group, confidently told Pinguan app that thanks to the prediction of the outbreak of e-commerce two years ago, HCP strengthened its production investment in e-commerce brands. Nowadays, perfect diary, huaxizi, zhiyouquan and other cosmetics brands with large market share are all cooperative customers of HCP.

As the largest manufacturer of cosmetic packaging materials in Asia, HCP has long become a supplier of international brands such as P & G, L'Oreal, Estee Lauder and Shiseido with high-quality product quality. Now, with the outbreak of e-commerce brands, HCP has entered a high-speed development track.

It is understood that HCP was established in Taiwan in 1960 and mainly produces cosmetics and skin care packaging materials such as lipstick, powder box and eye black. At present, HCP has 4 factories in Shanghai, Suzhou and Huai'an; Globally, HCP has established factories in the United States, Mexico and France, and new product R & D and sales offices in the United Kingdom, France and the United States. It has grown into one of the world's leading packaging suppliers.

Li Hongxiang revealed that in 2019, the total global sales of HCP reached US $400 million, of which 80% of the products were manufactured in the mainland.

"The domestic e-commerce market is developing rapidly, and the production efficiency has undergone earth shaking changes." Lihongxiang pointed out that there are two core factors that make HCP grasp the e-commerce outlet: flexible production capacity and product innovation.

At present, HCP can complete the production process of design, proofing and shipment within 20-30 days. Previously, HCP had helped Meikang Fendai design, produce and put into the market a product within 25 days.

Behind the rapid response ability, there is a strong capacity to support. HCP group has more than 400 injection molding machines. The new Huai'an factory built with an investment of US $60 million was also completed and put into operation in October. The annual production capacity of lipstick tubes and powder boxes reached 500 million.

"In the whole industry, there are few packaging material factories with large-scale production capacity and rapid response like HCP." Lihongxiang said.

In addition to the flexible production mechanism, the product innovation ability of "walking in front of consumers" is another major reason why HCP has become a supplier of many cutting-edge brands.

Li Hongxiang introduced that HCP has special design offices in France and the UK, which can search for global trends, innovate appearance and technology, and apply them to products. Today, HCP can put innovative packaging products into the market every month. The lipstick, maogeping Palace Museum Series and other packaging materials jointly signed by MAC and King glory are produced by HCP.

Acquisition of simp/rusi, making the whole category of packaging material factory more competitive

"Among our peers, our category is the most complete." Although only focusing on the cosmetics track, HCP can basically complete the production of lipstick, powder box, eye black and other categories in the cosmetics category.

In fact, for most packaging materials suppliers, they can focus on the production of a certain category and can do fine and professional work. However, it is inevitable that the packaging material factory focusing on the production of a single category has low risk resistance due to the development of the category itself. In lihongxiang's opinion, "in the future, factories with more complete product lines will be more competitive."

In order to make up for the shortage of the product line and expand its market share in the field of eye black, HCP has successively purchased two cosmetic packaging material factories simp and RUSI since 2016.

It is reported that simp is the world's leading top manufacturer of plastic brush heads and plugs, and has unique advantages in the design and innovation of plastic brush heads; RUSI has more than 40 years of packaging material production experience, and has strong R & D productivity in eyelash brush, lip gloss and Eyeliner Pen.

Based on this, HCP has established the first eye black center in the industry to provide customers with a full range of eye black production solutions. "There are dozens of types of plastic eyelash brushes in our eye black center. Brand customers can directly experience them in the center and find the eyelash brush that best matches the material." Li Hongxiang said.

A rising star in the field of packaging materials, China as the world's packaging materials

"In the field of cosmetic packaging materials, China is a leader in both production capacity and manufacturing quality." When Pinguan app visited upstream enterprises, many people in the industry mentioned that the production and manufacturing of packaging materials in China has reached the world leading level. Li Hongxiang also agrees with this.

"A very obvious phenomenon is that both domestic brands and international brands are using Chinese packaging products." Li Hongxiang told Pinguan app that there has never been a market as dynamic as China in the world.

"Only China has so many brands in the world, and only China has such a clustered industrial chain." The vitality of the market has provided the manufacturing industry with the soil for survival and development. At the same time, China's packaging material factory has achieved rapid development in the past 30 years.

However, the production level of packaging materials in China is gradually strengthening, but the short board is also very obvious. For example, the ability of product innovation and design is insufficient, and mechanical equipment still needs to rely on foreign imports. Fortunately, the "high standards and strict requirements" of domestic brands will further force manufacturing enterprises to carry out transformation and upgrading, giving Chinese packaging materials enterprises a broader space for development.

Talking about the future development trend of the packaging materials market, lihongxiang pointed out that in the past 30 years, the packaging of products has become more and more exquisite, and the surface treatment processes have become more and more diverse. In the future, the core competitiveness of packaging materials will not only be in appearance, but really produce products in line with the brand tone, "remove the logo, and consumers can also have brand awareness."