Currently with 24-25% of the global market, Chief Executive Ehab Abou-Oaf explains the model of ‘focus and pure play’ behind the newly launched independent hygiene giant. He spoke to TWM Senior Editor Helen Morris.
Little more than four months after launching, independent hygiene giant Arbex is making no secret of its ambition. Following its launch on 1 July 2026, the $3.4bn joint venture between Kimberly-Clark (K-C) and Suzano – where K-C has 49% ownership, and Suzano 51% – aims to be “the undisputed global leader in tissue and hygiene”.Its 22 tissue manufacturing facilities span 14 markets across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South America, Central America and Oceania, with installed capacity of around one million tonnes of tissue a year including production and conversion. Its toilet paper, napkins, paper towels and facial tissues are sold in more than 70 countries. Arbex took ownership of K-C’s portfolio of more than 40 regional brands, including Andrex, Hakle and Scottex, and holds a long-term licence to use global brands including Kleenex, Cottonelle and Scott.
Before the launch Ehab Abou-Oaf had most recently worked as President of International Family Care & Professional at K-C as well as Procter & Gamble. Speaking over a Teams call taken during Abou-Oaf’s relocation to London, the new Arbex Chief Executive is welcoming and affable, and keen to detail his ambitious growth vision.
The tissue industry has changed significantly in recent years, from Essity’s recent strategic review of its consumer tissue business to Sofidel’s expansion into the US over the past decade. Why was now the right time to launch Arbex?
“The tissue market has evolved quite a bit recently, it’s quite dynamic,” he says. “The aim was to create an entity that is a pure play on tissue and hygiene, and which allows us to better compete, be faster, be more focused and agile.”
Given all the changes globally, he adds that it was “a very opportune time” to create an entity like Arbex: “Our vision is to be the undisputed global leader in tissue and hygiene, setting up on great foundations, with great brands, with products that resonate with consumers all around the world. The focus and pure play as a separate entity will enable Arbex to operate with speed, to make the right investments at the right time, and not be traded off or distracted with other things. So I think the time is right, given all that is going on, and we are well placed to realise this ambition of being the global leader in our space.”
Arbex currently has a 24-25% share of the global market. Will future growth come from M&A, organic growth or new tissue investment?
“Starting from the top, if we’re true to the vision of being the undisputed global leader, by definition it will need to be a combination of organic and inorganic global growth. Having said that, there is space – or the headspace – for growth organically, and this is still humongous for us.”
Such growth will come from multiple areas: “Firstly, our starting position is strong. We are the number one or number two player in the 70 countries in which we operate. We already start from a point of strength. Our brands resonated and continue to resonate with consumers, in fact in many cases they defined the categories in which we operate. The number of markets I go and visit and the word Kleenex is synonymous with facial tissue…”
With the right brands, he says, the business is also playing in areas that are still expansive: “Contrary to common wisdom, there is still a lot to improve and innovate in our categories, even in bath tissue, which has 100% penetration among consumers. Consumers are still demanding better cleaning, better softness from the products. Innovation is going to be a great vector to allow us to grow.”
Facial tissue is still under-penetrated, he adds, and there is room to grow there. Arbex also has a “very vibrant B2B business which also provides a great headspace” for growth across the various sectors: “We talk about providing a one-stop-shop for our washroom solutions for our customers. We have a very vibrant wipers business which is also still under penetrated. There’s a lot of conversion going on across the sectors where we operate. It’s not just about the share of steal; it’s about growing the pie. Hopefully if we do that, and we continue to execute and innovate better than our competitors, we will also gain in share.”
Organically, Abou-Oaf says Arbex “still has a lot to do”, but it won’t exclude inorganic moves to complement its activities: “In an industry where scale matters, this will all help us accelerate towards that vision of being the undisputed global leader.”
Tissue markets are growing at different rates around the world. Where does Abou-Oaf see the most potential?
“There are definitely different rates of growth, and also by sub-category it’s also a little bit different. Latin America is an area where we continue to see growth for our industry. We are growing at double digits there and it’s a very exciting and vibrant space. In Asia, in several of our markets the category itself is growing, and we are growing faster than the category. In parts of Europe like the UK, our share gains continue to drive our growth. We believe there is still more room for our brands to grow, behind the innovation we are bringing to the marketplace. There are a number of areas that excite us from where we are.”
There are also white space opportunities: “We have a growing play in India with our B2B business in particular, and we look forward to expanding that into the B2C side of the house. India is really starting to come into focus for us as we play there.”
Arbex’s 22 mills are its “pure play Arbex tissue manufacturing facilities, as well as for converting into finished products”. Are there plans for a 23rd?
“We continue to invest across our 22 sites. We have space to grow them and we have capacity to support our growth, but we will invest behind innovation primarily, invest behind continuing to make our mills around the world more effective, more efficient. We are investing behind energy solutions that makes us more sustainable.”
Arbex has an annual capital budget of close to $100-120m, he adds, which is being put to work around the world: “That’s just a capital budget, it doesn’t include the advertising or commercial investments to support our brands. They normally are divided a third behind innovation, bringing new solutions to life, a third behind driving quality and cost efficiencies, and a third behind driving our mills to be better places for our customers and our consumers.”
In May 2026, Essity announced a strategic review of its Consumer Tissue business area’s global operations, a move it said will evaluate different alternatives that “may lead to separation, although no such decisions have yet been taken.” As of October 2026, Essity confirmed to TWM that the review was “still ongoing”.
Could this be an opportunity for a business with the scale of K-C and Suzano?
“What I can say is that our focus … we have got a lot on our plate. The 70 countries our products are active in, we have a lot of growth opportunities there and we want to stay focused on driving the business. But of course, we’re not unaware that this is being played and that it has an impact in some form or shape. In the short term, we believe our focus is our benefit, and maybe it’s a bit distracting for them, and that’s not going to be great and so we want to make sure we continue to drive our growth. It’s definitely a big play, depending on how it’s executed, and we’re monitoring it closely.”
Arbex pairs a pulp producer with a tissue manufacturer. Is this the future direction of the tissue market?
“Arbex operates and is managed as an independent company, that happens to have two owners, Suzano and K-C. But there are Chinese walls between us, and that’s intentional because we believe it is for the best of Arbex. If we are making our decisions independently and focusing our energy and the criteria for our decision-making on what’s right for Arbex, we will be maximising the value for our shareholders, Suzano and K-C. That’s the concept and it’s critical we stay that way. There’s no free pulp coming from Suzano into Arbex. We will continue to make decisions that are meant to be in the best of interests of Arbex. If that means we have to make a decision of sourcing differently, we will do it. That’s the framework for our operation.
“As for whether such a set-up could be the future for tissue, your observation is correct – there are more pulp companies like Suzano showing interest in downstream. Other players have – and they may operate differently; they may have a different form of integration – the benefits we have from the ownership structure, which is really having the best of both worlds. Operating as an independent company, while at the same time benefiting from the mind-set and the efficiency and effectiveness of a player like Suzano, which has been a leader in the thinking and execution of a very cost-efficient supply base, and similarly the K-C side where we have many years of history, and many, many years of being the leaders in the commercial and branding side. Bringing these two capabilities and bottling them in Arbex has become a very powerful combination that enables the expansion we’ve been talking about.”
With K-C’s world-famous brands, will private label become a bigger focus?
“Right now, private label is not a huge percent, 5-6% of our production goes towards it. We absolutely have positive relationships, and some of these are more strategic and longer-term, with some of the retailer brands that we service. In countries like South Africa for example, we have been in multi-year relationships that are strategic in nature. So we see it more as a strategic, multi-year partnership opportunity that we value and we continue to retain.”
While the business is open to supporting private label, he emphasises that the main focus will remain on branded products: “In our branded business we have significantly higher margins, and we see the demand going forward. Consumers continue to demand a branded relationship. We see it still even in Europe, which has been the heart of private label execution and the geography with the highest private label presence in the category. Even here, branded categories are growing, and this tells us that consumers want to have that. That’s our focus, hence our continued investment behind innovations and behind the brands in terms of building equity. The famous puppy, our famous puppy, is alive and kicking everywhere. The Andrex puppy is on mThis iost of our bath tissue brands around the world, it’s a common feature of what identifies our bath tissue business.”
“We are very excited about where we are. It’s been a smooth transition; it’s not often the case when you’ve had such a major carve-out and created a standalone business. We are proud of the fact that we have continued to serve our customers and consumers and haven’t had a blip, since 1 July when Arbex came into creation.
“The future is bright, and we are looking forward to being a force for good within the tissue and hygiene categories around the world, and hopefully our consumers and customers will see that. I’m looking forward to sharing more of this in due course.”
