(FORTUNE Magazine) – After Unilever's $1.1-billion hostile takeover bid for Richardson-Vicks failed in 1985, the Anglo-Dutch giant kept watch for another big U.S. company to acquire (FORTUNE, May 26, 1986). Now Unilever (1985 revenues: $24 billion) will buy Chesebrough-Pond's in a friendly deal valued at $3.1 billion. Though Chesebrough's businesses have performed sluggishly of late, Wall Streeters say the match is a good one. Unilever will probably reduce the purchase price by around $1.5 billion by selling off most of Chesebrough's Stauffer Chemical unit, its Prince tennis racket business, and the money-losing Bass shoe operation. What's left? Plenty of great brands -- Ragu spaghetti sauce, Vaseline, and Pond's skin care products -- that should benefit from the marketing muscle and technological know-how of the world's largest consumer products company.