A $3.7 billion deal to acquire the personal care company Alberto Culver has been made by Unilever, making it bigger than Procter and Gamble (P&G) as the world’s number one hair conditioner company.

The acquisition is to bring St Ives, TRESemme and VO5 under Unilever and intensify the competition in the haircare industry between L’Oreal and P&G. According to the CEO of Unilever, Alberto Culver’s impressive reputation will be a big boost in Unilever’s global presence in not only the skincare but also the haircare market.

Albert Culver has been in the industry for 50 years and has six manufacturing facilities with over 2,700 people in nine countries.

Analysts said that the proposed takeover was a great deal at a reasonable price, and it would strengthen Unilever’s position in personal care in first world markets.

The acquisition is also expected to see Unilever’s emergence as the world’s top maker of hair conditioner, while strengthening its hold of the second spot in the shampoo industry. In addition, the deal will allow the company to overtake Henkel in the third position in the hair-styling market.

Unilever’s proposed acquisition of the Albert Culver is set to be the former’s second huge deal in a single year after it got Sara Lee’s personal care operations for 1.2 billion Euros. Sara Lee, now under the scrutiny of the European regulators, is going to give up the Radox and Sanex brands to Unilever.

For Unilever, personal care has been their strategic category which has shown significant and rapid growth. Just ten years ago, personal care had 20 percent of the company’s turnover, but has now reached 30 percent. The sales of the personal care products went up to 6.7 billion Euros over the first six months of this year, up nearly 8 percent more than last year’s.