The consumer goods conglomerate’s roughly $65 billion transaction exiting its approximately $14 billion food business to McCormick & Company unwinds the marriage of the two industries that birthed it in 1930 with the merger of Margarine Unie and Lever Brothers. What will result is an around $46 billion beauty- and wellness-centered company, second only to L’Oréal in beauty, with faster growth, significant share in core categories and the potential to expand further across both emerging and developed markets.

But it also has notable gaps as it contends with competitors, both entrenched and emerging. Unilever remains heavily weighted toward mass, a strength as consumers seek value, but not without risk as K-shaped dynamics widen the divide between haves and have-nots. In a recent article in Business of Fashion, fragrance and color cosmetics are identified as weaknesses for Unilever.

Unilever hasn’t hesitated to pull the M&A lever to address its weaknesses and seize growth opportunities. The company allocates roughly $1.7 billion annually to acquisitions and is set to receive about $15.7 billion in cash from the McCormick deal that could be redeployed into beauty and wellness.

In the past three years, it has acquired brands such as Grüns, Wild, Dr. Squatch, K18 and Minimalist, while divesting or shuttering Kate Somerville, Suave, Ren Clean Skincare, Dollar Shave Club and the Elida portfolio. It’s also invested more than an estimated $360 million in Indian beauty brands since 2023, including Clayco, Secret Alchemist, SkinInspired and RAS Luxury Skincare.

As beauty and wellness welcomes its newest pure-play operator, industry watchers are considering what it could mean for dealmaking and the indie-to-exit pipeline. To explore the possibilities, for the latest edition of our ongoing series posing questions relevant to indie beauty, we asked nine investors, consultants and marketers the following: If you were leading Unilever’s M&A strategy today, where would you direct investment and why? Are there specific beauty or wellness brands you believe would be strong fits for the company? How might a beauty and wellness-led Unilever reshape the beauty ecosystem, particularly for emerging brands?