Knowlton Development Corporation (“KDC/ONE”), a leading formulator, developer and manufacturer for the prestige beauty, health, personal care and household sectors, today announced its acquisition of Benchmark Cosmetic Laboratories, Inc. (“Benchmark”), a leading custom formulator for established and emerging prestige beauty brands.
KDC/ONE is committed to elevating and expanding innovation capabilities to offer ground-breaking research and development services to its customers and brand partners.
Together, KDC/ONE and Benchmark will provide an all-encompassing, multi-faceted approach that serves customers’ formulating and production needs, delivered with recognized speed-to-market efficiency.
The acquisition of Benchmark underscores KDC/ONE’s dedication to origination and creativity across its network of 16 manufacturing sites for its brand partners, and will further solidify its position as a global leader in the beauty, personal care, and specialty areas.
Based in Irvine, California, Benchmark is a widely recognized expert in skin, hair and sun care. Benchmark partners with leading ingredient suppliers to identify and test new materials ahead of the market.
The company is led by a dynamic and visionary entrepreneur, Susan Goldsberry, President of Benchmark, who founded the company in 2007 and works with a team of prolific chemists. Ms. Goldsberry will continue as President of Benchmark under the KDC/ONE leadership.
Established in 2002, KDC/ONE is a leading integrated solution provider for its customers, supplying product innovation, research support, custom formulation, batch processing, assembly, packaging and quality assurance services.
KDC/ONE has nearly 5,200 employees across 16 state-of-the-art facilities throughout North America, France, the UK and the Czech Republic. KDC/ONE also operates its Innovation Lab in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, which serves as a state-of-the-art research and development facility and product creation center for its broad base of customers.
In November 2018, KDC/ONE partnered with Cornell Capital, a private investment firm based in New York and Hong Kong, to drive international growth and enhance KDC/ONE's ability to continue to invest in top-tier product innovation and best-in-class manufacturing capabilities.
“We welcome Benchmark into the KDC/ONE network as our new West Coast innovation hub, enhancing our ability to serve the innovation, research, development and testing needs of our clients. We share with Benchmark a strong commitment to bringing leading edge innovation to our brand partners and this combination will further increase our creative potential,” said Nicholas Whitley, President and CEO of KDC/ONE.
“Benchmark’s capabilities naturally complement KDC/ONE’s Innovation Lab, and its strong reputation for service and invention matches our own dedication to high-touch development and speed-to-market efficiency.”
“I am thrilled to be joining KDC/ONE, which has a proven track record of innovation and delivering value added services to brands across the globe,” said Ms. Goldsberry.
“We are excited that the Benchmark team will now have access to world-class resources and a broader beauty, health and personal care platform to leverage our innovation capabilities.”
