Rougj Group invests in Rebeya ‒ the new beauty brand by Belén Rodriguez

This Lifestyle Fund portfolio company active in high-end cosmetics will be the main 
shareholder in the Argentine celebrity's new beauty brand

Lifestyle Fund ‒ the private equity vehicle managed and promoted by Quadrivio & Pambianco to invest in enterprises in the fashion, design, beauty and food & wine sectors – sees its portfolio company Rougj launch the new beauty brand Rebeya, in partnership with the Argentine showbiz celebrity Belén Rodriguez and the media agency Freeda.

Founded in Trieste, Italy, in 1987, Rougj has steadily built up a leading position on the top-quality cosmetics market in Italy, France and Spain. Part of the Lifestyle Fund portfolio since 2019, the company is co-founder and main stakeholder in the enterprise.

During the first stage, Rebeya will focus on the make-up segment, with ranges for eyes, lips and face. Subsequently, the firm will expand the product lines, opening up to skin care, hair care and sun protection items. The company aims to swiftly secure a significant market share, adopting a multi-channel approach through its own e-commerce site (already operational) and then developing the physical retail channel at pharmacies as well as perfume and beauty stores.

This investment operation ‒ which the enterpriser Antonio Pirillo (CEO of Rougj) and Lifestyle Fund were keen to implement ‒ aims to support and speed up development of the brand on its markets of reference, pairing Rougj's expertise with the communication power of a much-loved beauty icon who is widely followed on social networks.

Rougj and the fund will support Rebeya by providing it with financial resources, product know-how, managerial competences and networking skills, so as to create a strong, innovative entity with a well-defined identity capable of quickly asserting itself in the beauty segment.

Walter Ricciotti, CEO of Quadrivio Group, Managing Partner at Lifestyle Fund and President of Rougj, commented on the deal: “We firmly believe in this new initiative, also based on our very positive experience with Rougj in the top-end cosmetics market. As private equity operators, we feel that strategic add-ons and partnerships such as this one can bring extra worth to our portfolio enterprises, quickening their growth and creating added value for them as well as for all the stakeholders involved.”

"We are particularly proud to have completed this project to a timescale and in a way that have enabled us to beat other prominent contenders competing alongside us. We and our partners have set ourselves the goal of creating the finest quality beauty ranges capable of standing out ‒ also visually ‒ among the many products stocked at the most prestigious sales outlets. Confirmation that we have met this goal has already come from the great interest shown by sector operators and the impressive results achieved during the first month of sales," added Antonio Pirillo, co-founder and CEO of Rougj.

For Carlo Bianchini, CEO of Rebeya: “We are approaching the market with a strong product range, featuring a distinct identity capable of making its mark. Well-bolstered by financial investment, our business plan has the immediate aim of penetrating the Italian market, reasoning from the outset on a multi-channel approach that will initially see the brand's own e-commerce channel alongside the perfume and beauty store one, through a select number of premium sales outlets. This will then be extended to a selection of pharmacies stocking beauty products of an appropriate level. Expansion into the international sector will take place at a later stage, once the model has been perfected in Italy.”

For the legal aspects connected with the deal, Rougj was assisted by Studio Legance, Belén Rodriguez and Antonia Achille by the Bonelli Erede law office, and Freeda Media by the Pedersoli Gattai law firm.