When Hamburg experienced an exodus of jobs after major corporations including cigarette-maker Reemtsma, travel and shipping company Hapag-Lloyd, haircare products-maker Hans Schwarzkopf and the Vereins and Westbank AG were acquired by companies outside of Hamburg, von Beust had the city's investment arm, the Hamburger Gesellschaft für Beteiligungsverwaltung, join forces with retailer Tchibo for the acquisition of cosmetics maker Beiersdorf in 2003. This put American multinational Procter & Gamble out of the bidding and preserved Beiersdorf as a publicly traded, stand-alone company in Hamburg.