WARSAW, Poland, February 25 /PRNewswire/ --

- New DKMS Poland Office Expands Coty-DKMS: Linked Against Leukemia Partnership

Coty Inc., a leader in the global beauty industry and the world's largest fragrance company, and DKMS, the world's largest non-profit bone marrow donor center, are pleased to announce the opening of DKMS Polska, the expansion of the Coty-DKMS: Linked Against Leukemia global initiative.

DKMS was inspired by Coty to open an office in Poland after a successful launch of DKMS Americas in New York City in 2004. For the past two years, Coty Polska Sp z.o.o., a subsidiary of Coty, has assisted DKMS in establishing an independent DKMS organization in Poland. To support the organization in its start-up operations, Coty Polska will provide DKMS Polska with office space to allow the non-profit to focus on organizing bone marrow donor drives without the worries of overhead costs.

The partnership between Coty and DKMS has provided a unique opportunity to unite our employees behind a shared cause. The opening of DKMS Polska is crucial to helping connect our Coty Polska employees directly to our company's philanthropic initiatives so they can personally identify with it and support it locally, said Bernd Beetz, Chief Executive Officer, Coty Inc. DKMS Polska is one part of our overall commitment to grow DKMS globally, in the coming years, by opening local offices in countries where Coty currently operates.

We are extremely proud that the Coty Polska team is so engaged in supporting DKMS and that our Warsaw office is one of the first to participate in the expansion of the Coty-DKMS partnership, commented Petr Smetal, Regional Commercial Vice President, Coty Beauty Eastern Europe. We are looking forward to watching the Linked against Leukemia partnership succeed in Poland and working to fight leukemia.

DKMS is grateful for Coty's support and commitment to help in the fight against leukemia and to registering bone marrow donors around the world, stated Claudia Rutt, Chief Executive Officer, DKMS.

In 2006, Coty became the sole corporate sponsor of DKMS in its efforts globally to recruit bone marrow donors, educate people about leukemia and raise funds to grow the organization. Coty selected DKMS as its cause-related partner because leukemia has touched the lives of many of its employees, including Coty Chairman Peter Harf, who lost his wife, Mechtild, to the disease after an unsuccessful bone marrow transplant in 1991. Together with his daughter, Katharina Harf, DKMS Americas Executive Vice President, recruits bone marrow donors around the world to provide donor matches and ultimately save the lives of those suffering from leukemia.

About Coty Inc.

Coty was created in Paris in 1904 by Francois Coty who is credited with founding the modern fragrance industry.

Today, Coty Inc. is the world's largest fragrance company and a recognized leader in global beauty with annual net sales of US$4 billion. Driven by an entrepreneurial spirit, passion, innovation, and creativity, Coty Inc. has developed an unrivaled portfolio of notable brands and delivers its innovative products to consumers in 90 markets worldwide.

The Coty Prestige brand portfolio is distributed in prestige and ultra-prestige stores and includes Baby Phat, Balenciaga, Calvin Klein, Cerruti, Chloe, Chopard, Davidoff, Home Skin Lab, Jennifer Lopez, Jette Joop, Jil Sander, JOOP!, Karl Lagerfeld, Kenneth Cole, L.A.M.B. fragrance by Gwen Stefani, La Voce by Renee Fleming, Lancaster, Marc Jacobs, Nautica, Nikos, Phat Farm, Sarah Jessica Parker, Vera Wang, Vivienne Westwood, and Wolfgang Joop.

The Coty Beauty brand portfolio is more widely distributed and includes adidas, Astor, Celine Dion, Chupa Chups, David and Victoria Beckham, Esprit, Exclamation, Faith Hill, Halle Berry, Jovan, Kate Moss, Kylie Minogue, La Cross, Miss Sixty, Miss Sporty, N.Y.C. New York Color, Pierre Cardin, Playboy, Rimmel, Sally Hansen, Shania Twain, Stetson, Tim McGraw, and Tonino Lamborghini.

Coty and Puig Fashion and Beauty S.A. have a strategic partnership for Coty's distribution of Puig's perfume lines of Nina Ricci, Carolina Herrera, Prada, Paco Rabanne, and Antonio Banderas in the United States and Canada.

For additional information about Coty Inc., please visit www.coty.com.

About DKMS

DKMS was founded in Germany in 1991 by Peter Harf and Professor Dr. Gerhard Ehninger, after Peter lost his wife, Mechtild, to acute leukemia. Today, DKMS is the world's largest and most successful bone marrow donor center with over 1.8 million registered donors. Since its founding, DKMS has facilitated more than 16,000 transplants.

DKMS is committed to the fight against leukemia. We strive to give every blood cancer patient and equal chance by recruiting donors from every race and ethnicity. We inspire hope and healing by helping to match our donors with patients in need of a bone marrow transplant.

DKMS Americas is a 501 (c)(3) non profit organization.

For more information about DKMS and to learn more about registering as a bone marrow donor, please visit www.dkms.de and www.dkmsamericas.org.

Dorota Sekulska of Coty Polska, +48-22-431-03-57, dorota_sekulska@cotyinc.com; or Jeanette Casselano, of Fleishman-Hillard, +1-202-828-8833, Jeanette.casselano@fleishman.com