French cosmetics group L’Oréal has entered into an agreement with Brazil’s Natura & Co to buy the Australian luxury brand at an enterprise price of $2.53 billion, both companies said on Monday.
According to a statement, the Aesop brand will have sales of $537 million in 2022.
“Aesop taps into all of today’s booming currents and L’Oreal will contribute to unlocking its huge growth potential, particularly in China and travel retail,” L’Oreal CEO Nicolas Hieronymus said in the statement.
The L’Oréal Luxe division, which includes L’Oreal, was the group’s top performer for the second consecutive year in 2022, with sales up 18.6 percent to 14.6 billion euros ($15.9 billion).
” Aesop’s investment marks a new development cycle for Natura & Co,” said Natura CEO Fabio Barbosa.
“With a strong financial structure and a detached balance sheet, Natura & Co, exercising strict financial discipline, will be able to sharpen its focus on its strategic priorities, especially our investment plans in Latin America,” said Barbosa.
Natura wanted to focus on “continuing to grow The Body Shop’s business and refocus Avon International’s footprint”.
“We have great confidence that Aesop will join the L’Oreal Lux Billionaire Brands Club and therefore contribute significantly to the growth of the division in the coming years,” said Cyril Chapuy, president of the group’s luxury division L’Oréal Lux. That he looks forward to welcoming Aesop CEO Michael O’Keefe and his team.
