RACINE - SC Johnson has sold its Edge and Skintimate shave preparation business to Energizer Holdings Inc. for a total of $275 million.

Energizer, which also owns the Schick-Wilkinson Sword shaving business, made the announcement Monday. In a news release, Ward Klein, Energizer chief executive officer, called the brands "logical and attractive" additions for that company.

The acquisition is not effective immediately and will be subject to customary conditions including regulatory approval.

SCJ spokeswoman Kelly Semrau said Monday that the sale should not affect local employment for the Racine-based consumer products company. "Everyone who worked on this will be redeployed," she said.

Both brands are manufactured at SCJ's Waxdale plant in Sturtevant - and that will not change anytime soon, Semrau said.

"We will continue to make them for Energizer for quite some time," at the buyer's request, she said. She declined to cite a specific period of time called for in the contract but said the manufacturing period can be renewed.

She said Energizer wanted to make that manufacturing arrangement part of the deal.

Semrau said SCJ invented Edge in the 1970s and developed its shave-preparation brands over the years.

"We were the first ones to innovate this gel that turns into a foam," she said. "We've had incredible growth in those products."

But she said although the products were profitable, a manufacturer is better off to have an entire product line for retailers, such as a razor blade brand to go along with shave-preparation products.

"You want to have scale in a category," Semrau said. "You can build a better brand" with combined marketing and so on.

Semrau said SCJ initiated the negotiations with Energizer which led to the sale.

"Over the years we have sold off all of our personal-care brands" such as shampoo and skin care products, she explained. "Those were the last brands in that category."

The sale's receipts open the door to SCJ doing some buying of its own, Semrau said. "It allows us to take that cash and make a strategic acquisition, or several."

She said she could not comment on whether any such talks have started. "We're always actively looking," Semrau remarked.

She said no other SCJ brands are on the selling block.