L’Arbre Vert

Who owns L’Arbre Vert?

L’Arbre Vert is a French Consumer company, formerly owned by Andera Partners (exit via Trade Sale). No current private equity owner is on file.

About L’Arbre Vert

L'Arbre Vert is a French consumer-goods brand, operated by Novamex, that makes ecological household cleaning and personal-care products, spanning dishwashing and laundry liquids, fabric softeners and dishwasher tablets as well as shampoos, shower gels and hand creams. Headquartered at Les Taillades in the Vaucluse, with manufacturing rooted at its Saint-Benoit site in the Vienne, the company positions itself as the reference brand for certified ecological cleaning products in French supermarkets. Nearly all of its range carries the European Ecolabel, and L'Arbre Vert was among the first players to secure that certification for shampoos and shower gels. Its dishwashing liquid ranks third in the French market behind Paic and Mir, while the brand leads the ecolabelled segment. The company sells through the major French grocery chains and exports to retailers across Europe and Asia.

Ownership journey

L'Arbre Vert traces to 2003, when Michel Leuthy took over Novamex and its Saint-Benoit manufacturing site and built the brand into the leading name in certified ecological cleaning. In February 2011 the company raised growth capital from Cabestan Capital, the small-cap fund now managed by Andera Partners and at the time run by Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners, which invested alongside founder and chief executive Michel Leuthy to support the group's expansion. The financing backed distribution, product development and international sales rather than a change of control, with Leuthy remaining at the helm. Andera's Cabestan vehicle exited the business in 2015 via a trade sale to a strategic consumer-goods acquirer, ending its holding period. The brand has continued to operate under strategic ownership since.

Under PE ownership

The 2011 growth investment was aimed at scaling a niche eco brand into a mainstream supermarket staple, and over the holding period L'Arbre Vert widened both its distribution and its product range. Turnover climbed to about 26 million euros by 2013, up from far smaller beginnings, as the brand pushed deeper into France's large grocery chains and extended exports across Europe and Asia. The company sustained heavy investment in formulation, spending more than one million euros a year on research and development with a team of in-house researchers. It broadened its ecolabelled catalogue beyond core cleaning liquids into personal care, reinforcing its lead in certified products. By the time of the 2015 exit, L'Arbre Vert had established itself as the benchmark ecological cleaning brand on French shelves.