Essity
Swedish multinational hygiene and health company supplying personal care, tissue, professional hygiene, and medical products.
Last updated November 4, 2026
AI crawler reads
53requests
3companies- OpenAI48
- Amazon4
- ByteDance1
- Profile
- 48
- Controversies
- 5
- JSON · MD
- 0
- First read
- Oct 29, 2026
- Latest read
- Nov 2, 2026
From this site's server log
Overview
Essity is a Swedish multinational hygiene and health company headquartered in Stockholm. It was created in 2017 when the hygiene and health activities of Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget, commonly known as SCA, were separated from the parent group's forestry operations and listed as an independent company on Nasdaq Stockholm. The name Essity combines the ideas of essentials and necessity, reflecting the company's focus on products used in everyday hygiene, health care, and professional environments. The company operates across consumer and business-to-business categories. Its personal-care portfolio includes baby diapers, feminine-care products, and incontinence products. Its tissue business serves households, workplaces, hospitality venues, and public institutions through consumer tissue and professional hygiene solutions. Its medical-care activities include compression therapy, wound care, orthopaedics, casting products, and related medical supplies. Major brands associated with Essity include TENA, Tork, Libero, Libresse, JOBST, Leukoplast, Lotus, Tempo, Zewa, and Saba, although brand availability varies by country. Essity's modern business developed from SCA's long expansion beyond forestry. SCA acquired Mölnlycke in 1975, adding a significant European disposable-hygiene business, and later built scale through acquisitions in tissue, packaging, medical care, and regional consumer products. Important transactions included PWA in 1995, Wisconsin Tissue in 2001, Carter Holt Harvey's tissue and hygiene businesses in 2004, Procter & Gamble's European tissue business in 2007, Georgia-Pacific's European tissue operations in 2012, and BSN Medical in 2017. SCA also became a major shareholder in the Chinese tissue company Vinda before the Essity separation. Essity serves consumers, retailers, health-care providers, employers, and institutional customers. Its brands are positioned around everyday utility, personal dignity, health outcomes, convenience, professional hygiene, and category expertise. TENA focuses on continence care, Tork on professional hygiene, Libero on baby care, Libresse on feminine care, and JOBST and related medical brands on compression and clinical care. The company competes with large consumer-goods, tissue, medical-supply, and regional manufacturers including Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, Unilever, Georgia-Pacific, 3M, Ontex, Unicharm, Sofidel, CMPC, and Santher. Essity has also made sustainability a prominent part of its corporate positioning. Its initiatives include science-based emissions-reduction targets, participation in sustainability indexes, engagement with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's New Plastics Economy initiative, and packaging objectives involving renewable or recycled materials. At the same time, environmental groups have criticized the company's forestry sourcing and alleged impacts on old-growth forests, biodiversity, climate, and Indigenous communities. Labor relations and market-exit decisions have also attracted public attention. In 2022, Essity announced legal action connected with an industrial dispute at its Kawerau paper mill in New Zealand, and in 2023 it announced its withdrawal from the Russian market. Essity is an active, publicly traded company with a global operating footprint. Reference material describes approximately 36,000 employees and 2023 net sales of approximately EUR 13 billion. The company remains organized around consumer goods, professional hygiene, and health-care solutions rather than a single product category.
History
Essity's history is rooted in Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget, or SCA, which was founded in 1929 as a Swedish forestry company. SCA gradually expanded into pulp, paper, tissue, and hygiene products. A major early step was its 1975 acquisition of Mölnlycke, a Western European producer of disposable hygiene products. This transaction established a platform for the health and hygiene activities that would eventually become Essity. SCA continued to broaden its tissue and consumer-products operations through acquisitions. In 1995 it acquired the German paper and packaging company PWA, Papierwerke Waldhof-Aschaffenburg. In 2001 it bought Wisconsin Tissue from Georgia-Pacific Tissue, strengthening its North American tissue presence. In 2004 SCA acquired tissue and hygiene businesses from Carter Holt Harvey, which had been owned by International Paper. In 2007 it purchased Procter & Gamble's European tissue business for approximately EUR 512 million and acquired its first minority stake in the Asian tissue company Vinda. SCA also expanded in Latin America and Asia. In 2011 it acquired Brazilian company Pro Descart, including the Biofral and Drybaby brands, and subsequently invested in a plant at Jarinu in São Paulo state to support brands including TENA and Tork. In 2012 it completed the acquisition of Georgia-Pacific's European tissue operations, including the Lotus brand, for approximately EUR 1.32 billion. In 2013 SCA became Vinda's majority shareholder. By 2015, SCA was described as the world's largest tissue-paper producer. The group then began a structural separation of its forestry and hygiene businesses. In 2015 SCA announced that the two activities would be organized as separate divisions. In August 2016 it announced its intention to split into two separately listed companies. The hygiene and health company also expanded its medical-care platform through the acquisition of BSN Medical, announced in December 2016 and completed around the creation of Essity. BSN Medical specialized in compression therapy, wound care, and orthopaedics and brought brands including JOBST, Leukoplast, Cutimed, Delta Cast, and Actimove. The reported purchase price was approximately EUR 2.74 billion. Essity was separated from SCA and listed on Nasdaq Stockholm on June 15, 2017. As an independent company, it combined consumer tissue, professional hygiene, personal care, and medical-care operations under one corporate identity. Its brands remained locally adapted in many markets, with names such as TENA, Tork, Libero, Libresse, Lotus, Tempo, Zewa, and Saba operating across different geographic and category contexts. After the separation, Essity continued to present itself as a global hygiene and health specialist. Its activities span retail products, professional systems, and products sold through health-care channels. The company has emphasized climate targets, renewable and recycled packaging, and participation in international sustainability initiatives. Its environmental record has nevertheless been contested by Greenpeace, while a 2022 New Zealand labor dispute generated litigation-related criticism. In 2023 Essity announced its exit from Russia. Governance changes included the appointment of Jan Gurander as chairman in 2024 and Ulrika Kolsrud as president and CEO in 2025. Reference material reports that Essity operated in approximately 150 countries, served more than one billion people, employed approximately 36,000 people, and recorded approximately EUR 13 billion in net sales in 2023.
- 2023
Russian market exit
[1]Essity announces its intention to leave the Russian market.
- 2018
Science-based emissions target
[1]Essity's emissions-reduction target is approved as aligned with climate science.
- 2017
BSN Medical acquisition and Essity listing
[1]SCA adds BSN Medical's medical-care portfolio, and Essity is listed independently in Stockholm on June 15.
- 2016
SCA announces corporate split
[1]SCA announces its intention to separate forestry and hygiene activities into two listed companies.
- 2013
SCA becomes majority shareholder in Vinda
[1]SCA becomes Vinda's majority shareholder, strengthening its Asian tissue presence.
- 2012
Georgia-Pacific European tissue acquisition
[1]SCA completes the acquisition of Georgia-Pacific's European tissue operations, including Lotus.
- 2007
European tissue expansion
[1]SCA buys Procter & Gamble's European tissue business and takes its first minority stake in Vinda.
- 2004
Carter Holt Harvey tissue and hygiene acquisition
[1]SCA acquires tissue and hygiene businesses from Carter Holt Harvey.
- 2001
Wisconsin Tissue acquisition
[1]SCA acquires Wisconsin Tissue from Georgia-Pacific Tissue.
- 1995
PWA acquisition
[1]SCA acquires German paper and packaging company PWA.
Products and positioning
A global hygiene and health company focused on essential everyday products, professional hygiene systems, and specialized medical-care solutions.
Incontinence care
TENA
TENA is Essity's principal continence-care brand, offering absorbent products and related solutions for adults experiencing bladder or bowel leakage. The brand serves consumers, caregivers, and institutional health-care settings.
Professional hygiene
Tork
Tork provides professional tissue, wiping, soap, dispensing, and hygiene-management solutions for workplaces, hospitality, health-care facilities, and public environments.
Baby care
Libero
Libero is a baby-care brand associated primarily with diapers and related products. Its market presence is particularly strong in Nordic and European markets.
Feminine care
Libresse
Libresse offers feminine-care products, including menstrual protection, and is marketed through regionally adapted brand identities and communications.
Compression therapy
JOBST
JOBST is a medical brand acquired through BSN Medical and is associated with compression garments and products used in the management of venous and lymphatic conditions.
Wound care
Leukoplast
Leukoplast is part of Essity's medical-care portfolio and provides adhesive products and related solutions for wound care and clinical use.
Tissue
Consumer tissue portfolio
Essity's consumer tissue portfolio includes toilet tissue, facial tissue, household towels, and related paper products sold under brands such as Lotus, Tempo, Zewa, Cushelle, Plenty, and regional labels.
Controversies
2022
Kawerau mill labor dispute
During a pay dispute involving 145 workers at Essity's Kawerau paper mill in New Zealand, the company announced an intention to sue locked-out striking workers over an alleged strike beginning approximately one hour earlier than stated.
Greenpeace criticism of forestry sourcing
Greenpeace accused Essity and its supplier SCA of unsustainable forestry practices, including alleged clearing of old-growth forests and damage to threatened species, climate stability, and Indigenous communities.
Brand decisions
2023
Exit the Russian marketStrategyBackground
Essity reviewed its operations in Russia amid the changing geopolitical and operating environment.
Action taken
The company announced that it would leave the Russian market.
2017
Acquire BSN MedicalM&ABackground
Essity sought to strengthen its medical-care activities in compression therapy, wound care, and orthopaedics.
Action taken
SCA acquired BSN Medical, bringing brands including JOBST, Leukoplast, Cutimed, Delta Cast, and Actimove into the group.
Aftermath
The transaction broadened Essity's portfolio beyond consumer hygiene and tissue products.
Purchase price. EUR 2.74 billion (2016-2017 transaction period)
2016
Separate forestry from hygiene and healthStrategyBackground
SCA had developed substantial forestry, tissue, hygiene, and health activities within one group.
Action taken
The company announced a plan to split the group into two separately listed companies.
Aftermath
The hygiene and health business became Essity and was listed independently in 2017.
Recent events
Reported
Essity agrees to acquire Kenvue's feminine care business in Brazil[2]
Essity has entered into an agreement to acquire Kenvue's feminine care business in Brazil, including the Carefree, Sempre Livre and o.b. brands, for USD 284m on a cash and debt-free basis. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval in Brazil and other customary closing conditions, including completion of the Kimberly-Clark and Kenvue transaction, and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2027.
Reported
Essity acquires Legacy Converting[3]
Essity acquired US professional wiping and cleaning company Legacy Converting, Inc. for USD 40 million, with a potential additional earnout of USD 10 million.
Reported
Essity announces price increases[4]
Essity announced price increases across all product categories and markets, with timing and degree to be managed locally. The company cited higher raw-material, energy and distribution costs.
- Unconfirmed
Reported
Essity acquires Hydrofera[5]
Essity acquired Hydrofera, a US company offering technology and products in advanced wound care, for USD 116 million with a potential additional earnout of USD 15 million.
Reported
Essity starts green hydrogen pilot for tissue production[6]
Essity launched a pilot at its Mainz-Kostheim production facility in Germany to replace natural gas progressively with green hydrogen in tissue production.
Reported
Essity completes acquisition of additional Familia shares[7]
Essity finalized its acquisition of 45.8% of the shares in Productos Familia S.A., bringing its ownership of Familia to 95.8%.
Reported
Essity acquires Sorbact distribution rights in Australia and New Zealand[8]
Essity announced that it is acquiring the distribution rights to Sorbact wound care technology in Australia and New Zealand from Bayport Brands.
Reported
Essity acquires remaining Asaleo Care shares[9]
Essity was reported to have acquired the Asaleo Care shares it did not already own through a scheme of arrangement valued at $788 million. The article also describes the acquisition as proposed and says Essity had reached an important stage in acquiring the outstanding shares.
Essity publishes preliminary first-quarter 2020 results[10]
Essity published preliminary, unaudited results for the first quarter of 2020, reporting group net sales of SEK 33,712 million and adjusted EBITA of SEK 5,333 million.
Reported
Tork launches VR Clean Hands Training and Education[11]
Essity’s Tork brand launched Tork VR Clean Hands Training and Education, a hand-hygiene training solution designed for healthcare professionals.
Sources12 sources
- 1Essityen.wikipedia.org
- 2Essity同意收购Kenvue在巴西的女性护理业务finanznachrichten.de
- 3Essity收购Legacy Convertingprnewswire.com
- 4Essity宣布提价prnewswire.com
- 5Essity 收购 Hydroferaprnewswire.com
- 6Essity启动纸巾生产绿氢试点prnewswire.com
- 7Essity完成对Familia额外股份的收购prnewswire.com
- 8Essity获得Sorbact在澳大利亚和新西兰的分销权prnewswire.com
- 9Essity收购Asaleo Care剩余股份lawyersweekly.com.au
- 10Essity发布2020年第一季度初步业绩paperage.com
- 11Tork 推出 VR 清洁双手培训与教育应用prnewswire.com
- 12Essity acquires Hydroferainnovationintextiles.com
Cite this profile: Cite the canonical profile. /brand-wiki/essity · Editorial policy · How profiles are compiled