L’Occitane owner offers to take skincare group private at €6.5bn valuation

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite tales on this weekly publication.The billionaire owner of L’Occitane has made a suggestion to take the skincare firm private in a deal that provides it an enterprise worth of about €6.5bn.Reinold Geiger, the Austrian who already controls the corporate, has provided to pay HK$34 per share to purchase the remainder of the enterprise and delist it from the Hong Kong inventory change. Its most up-to-date closing share worth was HK$29.5. The deal is price up to HK$13.91bn (€1.7bn), the corporate stated on Monday, and values its fairness at €6bn. The provide from Geiger and his backers was last, it added. Geiger’s L’Occitane Groupe, which is predicated in Luxembourg, already owned 72 per cent of the shares as of the tip of March. The firm stated Geiger had secured commitments from 1 / 4 of the remaining shareholders to tender their inventory, whereas one other 12.7 per cent of them had both despatched letters of intent or deliberate to suggest the provide, the corporate stated.L’Occitane shares have been suspended since April 9 pending an announcement, however will start buying and selling once more on Tuesday. A committee appointed by its board will consider Geiger’s provide and make a advice to minority shareholders.Blackstone and Goldman Sachs Asset Management will present about €1.5bn in debt financing, in accordance to folks conversant in the main points. Crédit Agricole may also present debt financing to again Geiger.Blackstone and Goldman Sachs Asset Management declined to remark. “The cosmetics sector is present process profound adjustments, and our firm has considerably reworked right into a geographically balanced multi-brand group,” Geiger stated in an announcement. “The transaction we’re launching at the moment will enable us to concentrate on rebuilding the foundations for the long-term sustainable development of our enterprise.”L’Occitane, which was based in 1976, has expanded from its preliminary skincare enterprise to purchase different manufacturers in recent times, together with perfumer Dr Vranjes and Sol de Janeiro, a solar and pores and skin cream specialist. Geiger, who’s L’Occitane’s chair, purchased a minority stake in 1994 and elevated his shareholding from there. The firm continues to manufacture merchandise for the L’Occitane model at its dwelling base in Manosque, in France’s Provence area, however has been listed in Hong Kong since 2010. Geiger shelved an earlier plan to delist L’Occitane in September, inflicting shares to fall. In 2023, the corporate’s gross sales elevated by 13 per cent to €2.13bn, whereas its shares have risen by greater than 20 per cent because the begin of the 12 months for a market worth of HK$43.5bn earlier than buying and selling was suspended. Asia Pacific makes up 42 per cent of complete gross sales, with the remainder unfold throughout Europe and the Americas, its fastest-growing area. The international marketplace for magnificence and skincare has proved resilient regardless of stress on shoppers from rising rates of interest and inflation, with LVMH-owned magnificence retailer Sephora and market chief L’Oréal beating expectations of their most up-to-date outcomes. However, China has proved tougher for magnificence corporations due to deteriorating client confidence, the darkening financial outlook and difficult competitors from native manufacturers.

https://www.ft.com/content/7892694f-61a5-4fa7-830e-64aa2e08e070