(This story was updated and expanded Sept. 19 at 3:10 p.m.)
[A] multinational publicly traded company announced Monday it would acquire Seventh Generation, a Burlington company known for making plant-based cleaning products.
Unilever said it signed the agreement Monday to acquire the company. Unilever owns more than 1,000 brands of food and home goods, including Ben & Jerry’s, Hellmann’s, Dove and Vaseline.
The price of the deal was not disclosed.
Seventh Generation is located on the Burlington waterfront and is a certified Benefits Corporation, or B-Corp. That means although Seventh Generation is a for-profit company, a private national organization has certified that it benefits the public and treats its employees as importantly as profits.
Seventh Generation was founded in 1988. By 2015, the company had reached more than $200 million in annual revenue, according to a Unilever news release, and “has seen double-digit compounded annual growth over the last 10 years.”
“Seventh Generation has long been a disruptor in the U.S. marketplace, leading the industry in sustainable innovation while attracting new generations of conscious consumers,” Nitin Paranjpe, the president of Unilever’s home care business, said in the news release. “This addition to Unilever’s product portfolio will help us meet rising demand for high-quality products with a purpose.”
Unilever is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the tickers $UL and $UN. Since 2010, it has been promoting its sustainable living plan that builds a social mission into its product line.
Seventh Generation’s current president and CEO, John Replogle, started in March 2011. He is a former Unilever executive.
Replogle said in the release: “Today marks the next chapter, and we’re proud to join Unilever and its shared vision for purpose-led business on a global scale. Working together we are confident we can have a positive impact on the health of billions of people around the world, truly fulfilling our mission of nurturing the next seven generations while transforming global commerce.”
The company’s name is said to come from an Iroquois law that tells tribe members to consider the impact of their decisions on the next seven generations.
