The French cosmetics group L’Oreal is strengthening itself in the lucrative luxury care business. The company is taking over the world-famous Aesop brand from Brazilian Natura, as the two companies announced last night. Natura put the enterprise value at a good 2.5 billion US dollars (2.3 billion euros). The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.
Natura wants to focus more on its brands The Body Shop and Avon. In 2013, the Brazilians took over the majority of the Aesop brand, which was founded in Australia. Aesop had annual sales of $537 million in 2022. Natura had previously considered a partial or complete sale of the brand. The Bloomberg news agency reported about a month ago that other companies such as Chinese financial investors Permira and Primavera Capital had also shown interest.
L’Oreal had sales of around EUR 38.3 billion last year and wants to expand its luxury care business with Aesop. The head of the luxury division, Cyril Chapuy, was confident that Aesop would contribute significantly to the growth of the business in the coming years and crack the billion in sales. The takeover still has to be approved by the authorities.
