Transparency, sustainability and natural: What Azelis hopes to drive forward in China after CosBond deal

Headquartered in Hong Kong, CosBond has offices and warehouses in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing.

Since its establishment in 2008, has built a strong market position in the personal care market, serving more than 500 customers ranging from major multinationals to smaller local producers

Laurent Nataf, CEO & President, Azelis Asia Pacific, told CosmeticsDesign-Asia​ that by acquiring CosBond, Azelis hopes to further extend its reach in the one of the most important markets globally.

“We see value in establishing a greater foothold in the large and fast-growing Chinese personal care market, which is driven by the increased awareness on personal grooming habits amongst the Chinese consumers coupled with the improvement in living standards brought by urbanisation.”​

He added that the firm hopes to capitalise on the many trends and opportunities in the lucrative market.

“Our presence in the different markets of life sciences allows us to foresee the upcoming global trends. We see a common trend in Food & Health and Personal Care: the desire for transparency, natural ingredients and sustainability, all with the goal to benefit both the consumers and the planet.”​

One of the biggest opportunities for the company is the consumer demand for science-backed naturally derived ingredients.

“Consumers will look for solutions that ally both performance and naturality, with proven scientific data. Our role will be to source and build our portfolio aligning science with natural beauty,” ​said Nataf

Nataf added that the local market will strongly be influenced by wellness and beauty from within trends.

Lastly, the firm believes that connected beauty, biometric and electronic beauty tools will continue play an important role.

Nataf revealed that the firm is working on developing high-tech solutions to support consumers in choosing tailored-made solutions.

“Our laboratories are working on developing solutions that can be used with those electronic tools and can adapt to hyper-personalised experience.”​

Meanwhile, Jerome Cheung, strategic director, CosBond, said Azelis would provide the company with strong formulation and application support, as well as access to its strong infrastructure and network.

“We see many growth synergies and we are confident that we are entering a thriving new chapter in the history of our company."​ ​

Currently Azelis have five application laboratories in Shanghai, one of which is a personal care lab, which has won 11 innovation awards in the last five years.

“We are very excited to be able to now extend this vast technical knowledge to CosBond’s principals and customers,” Nataf ​added.