Good morning dealmakers, thank goodness it’s Friday! It’s Obey Martin Manayiti here with the Wire. To cap off the week, today we are looking at the beauty and personal care (BPC) sector. I will start with a story from my interview with VSS Capital principal Brad Corbin about the firm’s recent growth equity investment in Olympus Cosmetic Group, a provider of cosmetic surgery, dermatological treatments and non-surgical cosmetic procedures. I will follow it up with six PE-backed BPC deals announced this year. But let’s start with this morning’s news. Desotec, a portfolio company of Blackstone, has acquired Pittsburgh-based Evoqua Water Technologies’ carbon reactivation and exchange services business. Desotec is a provider of sustainable mobile filtration services in Europe while Evoqua Water Technologies is a provider of water and wastewater treatment services. Desotec was founded in 1990 and Blackstone acquired it in 2021. Subscribe to PE Hub for more on the deal. Plastic surgery The growing market for plastic surgery and other non-surgical beautification processes, coupled with the high fragmentation of the sector, attracted VSS Capital to make a growth equity investment in Olympus Cosmetic Group, Brad Corbin, principal at the New York headquartered PE firm, told me in an interview. The deal was announced earlier this week. Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Olympus is a newly formed platform that focuses on providing cosmetic surgery, dermatological treatments and non-surgical cosmetic procedures. Services include face lifts, abdominoplasty, breast augmentation, breast lift, liposuction, injectables, non-surgical aesthetic treatments and body contouring. Get more on this deal in the premium version of The Wire. Lipstick effect A downturn in the economy has historically been good news for the BPC industry – a phenomenon some call the “lipstick effect.” The idea is that “small investments in self-care are on trend because, recession or no recession, ‘look good, feel good’ holds,” as LEK Consulting put it in a recent report. But not all brands are created equal, and new generations of consumers have new demands. Changing times plus the fragmentation of the BPC sector makes it fertile ground for private equity investing. Since the beginning of the year, PE Hub has seen a steady flow of deals on the manufacturing side as well as the logistics and retail side of BPC. So I rounded up six PE-backed BPC deals deals and more on this story on the premium version of The Wire. Please let us know what you are seeing in the market, or send a scoop on the latest deal or trends via my [email protected] That’s it for me today. • PE Hub will be closed on Monday in observance of Juneteenth, and we will not be publishing the Wire newsletter. • I'll be back with more on Tuesday, and PE Hub editor-in-chief MK Flynn will be moderating panels at PEI Group's Women in Private Markets Summit North America 2023. Have a nice weekend. Cheers Obey Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub ... | 