L'Oreal USA, the largest subsidiary of L'Oreal S.A., the world's leading beauty company, signed an agreement to acquire key assets from Raylon Corporation, a full-service, family-owned wholesale distributor headquartered in Reading, Pennsylvania.

The acquisition will expand SalonCentric's distribution coverage of salon professional products within Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and portions of Maryland, West Virginia and New York. Additionally, this agreement enables the Hafetz family, under the leadership of Howard and Josh Hafetz, to continue serving salon professionals with select brands in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and New York under a new name, Art of Business. These brands will be specific to Art of Business and will be different from SalonCentric's brand catalog.

According to the firm, the acquisition will align Raylon's field sales and stores with SalonCentric's field sales and store network. In total, 13 stores and various field positions that service 3,500 salons will be included in the transaction.

"We are excited to expand SalonCentric and the brands we distribute into this key territory and to share the SalonCentric experience with a new community of beauty professionals," said Bertrand Fontaine, President of SalonCentric. "By increasing SalonCentric's footprint we will be able to build relationships with beauty professionals in the Northeast and provide them with the brands, tools, education and support to help them grow their salon businesses."

SalonCentric, which is headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, was created as a distributor of salon professional products by L'Oreal USA in 2008. Raylon, which was founded in 1953 by Joe Hafetz, grew to become the industry leader in pioneering salon education and business training.

"Raylon has always been committed to the salon professional and we believe this acquisition will provide salon professionals that we've served in this market with opportunities for continued growth," said Howard Hafetz, CEO and son of Raylon Founder Joe Hafetz.