The Body Shop owners sell ‘avant-garde’ skincare brand Aesop to L’Oréal for £2.5bn
L’Oreal has agreed to buy Australian skin care brand Aesop for $2.5bn (£2bn).
The French cosmetics giant snapped up the brand from Natura &Co – owners of British retailer The Body Shop.
Since its formation over 30 years ago, Aesop has grown greatly in popularity and is most known for its hand soaps and body lotions.
The Australian retailer also sells its products in John Lewis and has a number of stores located across London including sites in Covent Garden and Westfield shopping centre. It also posted gross sales of £430m during the last year.
Nicolas Hieronimus, chief executive of L’Oréal Group, said: “Aesop is the epitome of avant-garde beauty, whose products are not only made with great care and exceptional attention to detail; they are a superb combination of urbanity, hedonism and undeniable luxury.”
The Brazilian company said that the sale will help “strengthen and deleverage its balance sheet”.
Natura & Co acquired Avon for £1.6bn in 2019 and is also looking to inject some of the funds from the sale into the “optimisation” of the catalogue cosmetic brand’s “international footprint”.
“We are confident that Aesop’s growth story will continue under the ownership of L’Oréal and wish Aesop continued success in this new chapter.” Fabio Barbosa, chief executive of Natura &Co, said.