Sister companies
Founded in 2003, Zorbit has a similar organization to Maesa, with integrated design, engineering, project management and quality control, backed by a wide network of producers based in Asia, Europe and the American continent. Based in New York, Zorbit has offices in Los Angeles and Shenzhen (People’s Republic of China). In just five years, Zorbit has become a U.S. leader in the design and manufacturing of tailor-made products for the beauty industry.
The company generated 23 million dollars in revenues over 2007, and around 45 million dollars in 2008.
Stronger presence in North America
The acquisition of Zorbit should help Maesa to strengthen its presence in North America. Maesa Inc., the company’s U.S. subsidiary created at the end of 2006, has moved to Zorbit’s headquarters, just a few hundred meters away its former premises, and a specific management committee has been created for the North American Region, and three of Zorbit’s founders, Howard Sherman, Tom Butkiewicz and Scott Oshry have joined the Group’s steering committee.
Focusing on growth
The business combination has created a group with 200 staff, serving more than 150 clients from out of seven offices in Europe and the US, with a business volume of around 74 million euros in 2008, spread over four business lines: Maesa Beauty (26 million euros), Maesa Home (23.8 million euros), Maesa Promotions (4.9 million euros) and Maesa Packaging (19.3 million euros).
Over the next year Maesa will focus its development “on the deployment of high creative value-added retailer brands on the one hand, and the outsourcing of resources on the other, notably on packaging, for luxury and beauty brands,” the company said in a release.
The group also said to be confident regarding its ability to meet the target that was set three years ago for 100 million euros in revenues in 2010.
Strengthened management team
To accompany its development, Maesa strengthened its management team in Europe with the arrival of a new Chief Executive Officer for Maesa Beauty and Maesa Home Europe and a Chief Procurement Officer.
New Chief Executive Officer of Maesa Beauty and Maesa Home Europe, François Duquesne, 43 years old, has a strong backaground in the luxury and beauty world. He has been a director and President USA at L’Artisan Parfumeur, while at the same time heading up the American business of two other Cradle Holdings Group brands: Erno Laszlo cosmetics and Penhaligon’s perfume and fragrance products.
Laurence Hyest, 48 years old, is taking over from Cédric Noël as Chief Procurement Officer for Maesa. She has a 25 year experience in Procurement and Development in the perfume industry. After starting off her career as a commercial assistant in a trading company (bottling and sealing), she was a Purchasing Manager at Annick Goutal then Guerlain, before being appointed Head of Procurement and Development at Jean Patou then Cartier, where she was in charge of purchases for accessories. More recently, she was in charge of procurement and development at Selective Beauty.
