Frieda sells haircare business for £290m

Celebrity hairdresser John Frieda has sold his hair care products business to a Japanese corporation for £290 million.

Frieda, who was married to Lulu for 19 years, is believed to own at least half the Cincinnati-based business which sells more than £100 million-a-year worth of products ranging from Sheer Blonde to Frizz Ease.

Kao Corporation, valued at £8.8 billion on the Tokyo stock market, said it would pay £220 million for the rights to the John Frieda brands and a further £70 million for the shares. Frieda was rated the 392nd equal richest person in Britain according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List. Today's deal pushes his personal fortune to about £160 million. The deal does not include his salons, including the two in the West End.

Son of an Ealing hairdresser and grandson of a Fleet Street barber, Frieda, 51, married Lulu in 1976. They divorced in 1994 but remain close.

He now lives in New York and has salons in London, Paris, New York and Los Angeles. Famous clients range from the former Prime Minister's wife Norma Major who he "made-over", to Joan Rivers and Glenn Close. He opened his first salon in 1979 in New Cavendish Street having borrowed £40,000 from the bank. In 1989 he began selling his first signature product Frizz Ease serum which let girls with naturally curly hair go straight.

His big break came when he demonstrated his serum on a model on daytime television. From a modest contract to supply Boots, his gels, shampoos, conditioners and potions which now include Beach Blonde and Ready to Wear were suddenly in huge demand. They now sell across Europe, the United States and the Far East.