Bain Capital takes stake in Amityville's Sundial Brands

Private equity firm Bain Capital LLC is taking a minority stake in Long Island-based Sundial Brands LLC, a manufacturer of natural skin care and hair care products under the brands SheaMoisture and Nubian Heritage.

The new partnership will allow the beauty and grooming company headquartered in Amityville to grow its business, invest in product innovation and bring its merchandise to the global market, the companies said. Historically, Sundial's products have been predominantly purchased by African-Americans. Financial terms of the minority investment were not disclosed.

"The consumer community on a global scale is demanding natural products, their lifestyles are changing, their hairstyles are changing," Sundial founder and chief executive Richelieu Dennis said Wednesday. "What we envision is to take the good thing we create on Long Island and share it with the world and provide them with some alternatives."

Founded in 1992, the family-owned and -operated business manufactures lotions, soaps, shampoos and hair-treatment products containing some ingredients certified as organic. Its products are made from raw materials such as shea butter, coconut and herbs.

Dennis began the company with his college roommate, Nyema Tubman, and his mother, Mary Dennis, shortly after graduating from Babson College, a private business school in Wellesley, Massachusetts. After graduating, he was unable to return to his home country of Liberia because of civil war, a company statement said.

The company employs about 300 people, most of whom work on Long Island at its two facilities in Amityville and two others in Farmingdale. The plants total about 200,000 square feet.

"Long Island is our home base," Dennis said. "We are going to be investing even more here on Long Island. We will be getting more people here and infrastructure here. There will be a significant ramp up."

Dennis will continue to lead the company, which will remain majority family-owned and operated. Deval Patrick, a managing director at Bain Capital and a former governor of Massachusetts who played an active role in the investment, will join Sundial's board of directors.

"Richelieu and his family have built an amazing business . . . that is very well aligned with where we as consumers and as a country are headed," Ryan Cotton, a managing director at Bain Capital, said in a statement.