Australia clears Kimberly-Clark's Kenvue takeover on condition it sells Carefree and Stayfree

Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB) has cleared a competition hurdle in Australia for its proposed acquisition of Kenvue, but with strings attached. According to a Reuters report dated September 2, Australia's competition regulator approved the takeover on condition that Kimberly-Clark divests the Carefree and Stayfree brands.

The divestment condition is aimed at preserving competition in period-care products. Before the deal, Australia had three major suppliers of period-care products, and the regulator required the brand sales to address concerns arising from combining Kimberly-Clark and Kenvue.

Kimberly-Clark notified Australia's competition regulator of the proposed Kenvue acquisition on July 28, 2026. This clearance is one of four acquisitions cleared with conditions under Australia's new merger control regime.

Reuters put the proposed takeover value at $40 billion in its September 2 story. That figure differs from earlier disclosures tied to the transaction: at the deal's announcement in November 2025, Kenvue was assigned an enterprise value of $48.7 billion, representing 14.3 times Kenvue's last-twelve-months adjusted EBITDA, with expected run-rate synergies of $2.1 billion. The differing headline figures appear to reflect the stock-based portion of the consideration changing over time.

Under the merger terms, Kenvue holders are set to receive $3.50 in cash and 0.14625 Kimberly-Clark shares per Kenvue share, with Kimberly-Clark expected to issue around 280 million shares and pay a cash portion of $6.7 billion. The transaction cleared the U.S. HSR Act waiting period on February 4, 2026, and shareholders backed it in January, with 96% of shares present at Kimberly-Clark's special meeting approving the stock issuance and 99% of Kenvue shares voted adopting the merger agreement.