Cosmetics giant L’Oreal are expected to sell their Body Shop chain to Brazilian company Natura, in a deal worth 1 billion euros.
L’Oreal confirmed on Friday that Natura had made a “firm” offer for the company, with the deal expected to be finalised later this year.
Ethical beauty chain The Body Shop was bought by L’Oreal for £652 million in 2006, but has since faced plunging profits amidst increased competition from a new range of ethical beauty brands.
For the year to December 2016 profits fell 38 percent to €33.8 million, with sales dropping nearly 5 percent to €920.8 million. Body Shop has stores in 66 countries and over 3,000 outlets, 133 of them in Brazil. Its turnover makes it about half the size of Natura, who are bidding for the group.
L’Oreal chairman and chief executive, Jean-Paul Agon, said: “I am very pleased to announce Natura as the potential new “home” for the Body Shop.
“It is the best new owner we could imagine to nurture the brand DNA around naturality and ethics.”
Guilherme Leal, the co-chairman of Natura’s board, commented:
“Natura and The Body Shop have always walked in parallel, and today their paths meet,” said Guilherme Leal, the co-chairman of Natura’s board.
“The complementarity of our international footprints, the sustainable use of biodiversity in our products, a belief in ethics in management and fair relations with communities and a high degree of innovation constitute the pillars of the journey on which we are now embarking.”