The rights to the once popular Timotei shampoo brand in Russia and post-Soviet countries went to Arnest UniRus. The company developed the brand in Russia when it was part of the British Unilever. Purchasing the rights to the brand could cost the Russian side a maximum of 500 million rubles. The costs of relaunching a long-known brand will still be less than launching new products, experts are sure.
Arnest UniRus (the former structure of Unilever in the Russian Federation) bought the rights to the Timotei personal care brand from the American fund Yellow Wood Partners. Kommersant was informed about this by Arnest UniRus. The structure received rights to the brand in Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Moldova and Mongolia. Arnest UniRus did not disclose the amount of the transaction. According to Kommersant’s interlocutor close to the company, it could amount to 300–500 million rubles.
As Arnest UniRus explained to Kommersant, after the deal was closed, the company began updating the brand’s assortment and packaging. The first new product lines under the Timotei brand appeared in retail at the beginning of June.
British Unilever launched the Timotei shampoo brand in 1975 in Sweden, and a little later in Finland. The word “timotei” chosen for the brand name is the Finnish word for the herb known in Russia as timothy grass. The brand appeared in Russia in the 1990s.
In 2021, Unilever spun off non-core cosmetics assets into Elida Beauty. The following brands were transferred to her: Timotei, Tigi (hair care products), Q-Tips (napkins), Brut (shaving products and colognes). At the end of 2023, Unilever sold Elida Beauty to the American investment fund Yellow Wood Partners, whose portfolio by that time included, in particular, the Dr. brands. Scholl’s (insoles), plusOne (sex toys).
Unilever sold its Russian assets to the Arnest group of Alexei Sagal in the fall of 2024. The rights to the company’s international brands, for example Ax, Rexona, Dove, were transferred to the local structure as part of a licensing agreement. According to him, from April 2025 these stamps were Cyrillized. Timotei was not included in the deal because at that time it already belonged to a third party. But Arnest UniRus, as the company reported, considered that the brand was still quite popular in Russia, so it decided to seek the right to continue its development in the country.
Elena TyabutovaGeneral Director of Arnest UniRus, June 2, 2026, in an interview with Kommersant:
“In cosmetics and perfumery there is still an opinion that Italian, French, German is better.”
Timotei has not been a key asset in Unilever’s global portfolio for a long time. In many countries it has lost its strategic importance – for example, it began to be withdrawn from the British market in the mid-2010s. In Russia, Timotei now rather belongs to the category of “sleeping” brands, says Alexander Eremenko, managing partner of the BrandLab agency. The last time Timotei was in the top ten in sales was in 2011, the expert notes.
However, a significant portion of Russian consumers over 30–35 years old remember this brand and its relaunch will cost Arnest UniRus much less than creating and promoting a new brand, Mr. Eremenko believes. Moreover, in conditions when some international brands either left the Russian market or were renamed, maintaining Timotei could be an advantage for the company. “The buyer will perceive it as an old and familiar brand, and not as a new local replacement,” explains Alexander Zaitsev, CEO of the investment company Atomic Capital.
