After a slew of successful transactions, Ben Bennett’s The Center is ready for its next act.
It has teamed with board-certified dermatologist Dr. Mamina Turegano to acquire skin care brand Boscia from Fancl Corp., and expects to relaunch it next year. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
As a refresh, Fancl, the Yokohama, Japan-based cosmetics company, launched Boscia — a combination of the words “botanical” and “science” — in the U.S. at Henri Bendel with 18 stock keeping units in 2002 in a bid to make its mark on prestige beauty.
It expanded into Sephora, but in 2024, it was reported that the brand, which was based in Irvine, Calif., had closed. A year later, a separate report noted it was gearing up to make a return.
Amid this, Bennett had connected with Turegano, who is prominent on social media, about collaborating on a project focused on the rituals of Asian skin care.
“She has a Japanese background. I’m Thai, and while K-beauty is a phenomenon and experiencing its second and more prominent wave, there have been waves of J-beauty interest,” Bennett said. “Both of us spent a lot of time talking about not just the brands and skin care formulations that are coming out of Asian countries, but really more of the traditions, rituals and family connections — the techniques and the philosophy that’s passed along from our moms and our grandmothers and aunts.”
That led them to the subject of Boscia, a brand they both admired. “We discovered that Boscia was closing up shop, and the conversation went to ‘what if?’”
Once they had made the decision, it took some time to persuade Frankel.
“It took us about a year. After a year, they finally said, ‘OK, we get it. You’re not going to stop calling until we sell you the asset.’ We ended up, you know, getting it done, and we’re super excited,” Bennett continued.
Boscia will be reimagined through the lens of modern dermatology while preserving the Japanese skin care philosophy, ingredients and rituals that have long defined its identity.
On the ingredients she’s excited about, Turegano is drawn to fermented ingredients, and is a fan of rice, green tea, in addition to the more traditional ingredients popular in the U.S.
“My Japanese grandmother sold skin care in Japan for 40 years, and I did skin care with her whenever we would visit in the summer,” she said.
The brand will debut in the first quarter of next year, but it won’t launch with a retail partner, with Bennett a big believer that a brand needs to begin as direct-to-consumer. “We hope to find a retail partner and the right retail partner when the time’s right.”
In July, private equity firm TSG Consumer signed a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in Saltair, the body care brand founded by Iskra Lawrence, the U.S.-based British model and influencer, in partnership with The Center.