L’Occitane International, the French skin care company, is mulling a move to take the company private.
Reinold Geiger, the executive director and chairman of L’Occitane, who owns more than 70 percent of the company, is reportedly looking into the possibility of buying out minority shareholders of the Hong Kong-listed public group, according to a Bloomberg report.
The company has a market value of 33.5 billion Hong Kong dollars, or $4.2 billion.
A L’Occitane spokesperson declined to comment on the potential deal.
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The reported move comes after the group released stellar growth results in the first quarter.
According to L’Occitane’s unaudited first-quarter results, sales jumped 24.5 percent at constant exchange rates to 502 million euros in the three months ended June 30. The growth was driven by outstanding performance at the Sol de Janeiro brand and decent growth of its flagship L’Occitane en Provence brand in China.
By region, the Americas led the growth with 57.5 percent at constant exchange rates, driven by Sol de Janeiro. The APAC region registered 11.2 percent growth at constant exchange rates, driven by 35.7 percent growth in the China market.
“We are mindful of the lingering macroeconomic uncertainties, such as signs of a slower-than-expected recovery in China, persistent inflation in major markets and foreign currency exchange headwinds,” said André Hoffmann, vice chairman and chief executive officer of L’Occitane.
“Yet, we remain cautiously optimistic about our prospects in the financial year 2024, supported by higher marketing investments in key markets and channels for the core brand and the continued development of our newer brands, including the recent entry of Sol de Janeiro and Grown Alchemist into APAC and global travel retail channels,” Hoffmann added.
The French beauty group’s portfolio includes L’Occitane en Provence; L’Occitane au Brésil; France’s Melvita; South Korea’s Erborian; American brand LimeLife by Alcone, and the group’s beauty start-up Duolab, which was launched in early 2020.
To expand into the clean beauty market, the group acquired Elemis for around $900 million in January 2019 and a majority stake in Sol de Janeiro in November 2021 for $450 million. In March 2022, the group acquired a majority stake in Growth Alchemist in a deal around 50 million Australian dollars, or $33.8 million.
L’Occitane went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2020 to capture growth opportunities in the Asian markets. It became the first French company to be listed in Hong Kong.