Margaret Dabbs London

Cavendish Corporate Finance, the UK’s leading sell-side specialist M&A firm, has advised premium, direct-to-consumer, British beauty brand Margaret Dabbs London on the sale of a minority holding to Best World International.

Founded in 1990, Best World International (“BWI”) is a Singapore headquartered company specialising in the development and distribution of premium skin care, personal care, nutritional and wellness products.

The sale to BWI will accelerate Margaret Dabbs London’s expansion plans, in line with founder Margaret Dabbs’ vision for the creation of a global brand.

Recognised by Tatler magazine as “the go-to place for feet and hand treatments around the world”, Margaret Dabbs London was founded in 2004, and became famous in 2007 after being approached by Harrods to open a clinic on the fifth floor of its flagship Central London store. Since then Margaret Dabbs London has established a total of nine clinics throughout the UK, and four internationally in the Middle East and Spain.

The company is the first of its kind to target a significant gap in the market for a medically-credible and premium cosmetic solution for foot, hand and leg care. The global cosmeceuticals market is expected to outpace the general beauty market growing at a compound annual growth rate of 8.8% between 2019 and 2024 reaching $85 billion.

Initially created for use in Margaret Dabbs London clinics, products are sold direct through both the clinics and the company’s website, and indirectly through luxury hotels and spas and major retailers including Liberty, Harrods, John Lewis and SpaceNK in the UK.

Margaret Dabbs London made £7.7m revenue and £1.8m EBITDA for the year ending 31^st December 2019.

The brand’s premium positioning attracts a loyal customer base of high achieving professional men and women, including a number of well-known celebrities, politicians, actors and sportsmen and women.

The Cavendish team was led by Jonathan Buxton, Partner and head of consumer and Rebecca McCredie, Associate Director.

Jonathan Buxton, Head of Consumer and Partner at Cavendish, commented:

“It was a great pleasure to work with Margaret Dabbs and her team – Margaret is a remarkable entrepreneur and has pioneered an entirely new category for the sector, building an amazingly resilient business with huge potential. We are excited to have found such a transformational partner for Margaret Dabbs London.

The transaction demonstrates the reach of our offices around the world, as well as Cavendish’s in-depth knowledge of the beauty and personal care sector.”

Rebecca McCredie, Associate Director at Cavendish, added:

“The key to the success of this deal was working with Margaret and her team to prepare the business well ahead of the sale. We started work over 18 months ago and the preparatory work was crucial to the eventual smooth transaction. Many congratulations to Margaret, Ian and team!”

Margaret Dabbs, Founder and CEO of Margaret Dabbs London, commented:

“Thank you to the Cavendish team for your unwavering support throughout this process. Finding a strategic overseas partner to allow me to realise my global ambition was my number one aim, and this has been achieved. In the current market the result you have delivered is exceptional.”