Who Owns PUR?

The PUR brand was created by Recovery Engineering, Inc., a Minneapolis company that developed consumer water filtration products. P&G acquired Recovery Engineering in 1999 for approximately $213 million, bringing PUR into its household products portfolio.

Under P&G, PUR expanded into faucet-mount systems, pitchers, and refrigerator filters, becoming one of the two dominant consumer filtration brands alongside Brita. In 2004, P&G closed PUR's Minneapolis manufacturing plant and moved production elsewhere; outdoor products under the PUR name were sold to Katadyn.

By 2011, P&G judged water filtration non-core to its long-term strategy. On December 6, 2011, the company announced a definitive agreement to sell the PUR business to Helen of Troy, closing on December 30, 2011, for $160 million paid in cash. The deal excluded P&G's Children's Safe Drinking Water powder technology, which remained with P&G.

Under Helen of Troy, PUR has maintained its position as Brita's primary challenger in US retail. The PUR PLUS line covers faucet mounts, pitchers, and dispensers with updated filtration media, and the brand regularly appears alongside Brita and ZeroWater in independent pitcher and faucet filter rankings through 2026.