Procter & Gamble moves its beauty business headquarters from Ohio to Singapore

Procter & Gamble announced today that it plans to move the headquarters of its global skincare, personal care and cosmetics business from Ohio to Singapore, Fox News reported.

Cincinnati-based P&G, whose products include Olay creams and cleansers, CoverGirl makeup, Secret deodorant and SK-II skin-care, said it was making the move to be closer to Asia’s booming beauty market, according to Fox News.

P&G has said it expects 37 percent of its annual sales to come from emerging markets by the end of the fiscal year, Bloomberg Businessweek reported.

The company said the unit’s leadership team will move to Singapore, but the group will retain a large presence in the US, so the change affects only 20 people, Fox News reported.

According to P&G, its global president of beauty, skin, cosmetics and personal care, Virginia Drosos, was the architect behind the move, but she has elected to stay in the US because she believes it is in the best interest of her husband and two teenage children, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. Drosos, 49, who has been with P&G since 1987, will retire on Sept. 1. A spokesman told Fortune magazine Drosos looks forward to "leading another company.”

Drosos will be replaced by Deb Henretta, 51, who has headed P&G’s Asia business for several years, according to Fortune. In Henretta’s place, the company will appoint its first Asian-born head of Asia, Hatsunori Kiriyama, 49.