L’Occitane’s owner set to complete $7 billion buyout

Reinold Geiger, who controls 70% of the beauty giant L’Occitane, is considering a buyout bid for the shares he does not already own after de-listing the company from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange earlier this month.

The 76-year-old billionaire has a majority shareholding through investment group Groupe L’Occitane and is reportedly close to making a proposal to take the firm private as early as Monday, in a deal that could value it at about £5.5 billion ($7 billion) including debt, according to Bloomberg News.

It was first reported that the billionaire owner was considering taking the company private in August 2023. The owner said he was considering potential buyout deals that would value the group at no less than $26 HK a share.

Reinold Geiger

The company was first listed in 2010 with the hope of growing the business in the Far East and was said to be one of the first Western companies to sell its primary shares in the Asian financial hub at the time. Trading of L’Occitane was suspended in Hong Kong on 9 April after 14 years.

L’Occitane was founded by Olivier Baussan in 1976 and now, nearly 50 years later, it trades from approximately 2,774 sites in 90 countries. The company, which owns L'Occitane en Provence, Melvita and Erborian, boasts over 8,500 employees.

It has strengthened its portfolio over recent years by acquiring Elemis in a $900 million deal in 2019 and taking majority stakes in Sol de Janeiro in 2021 and Grown Alchemist in 2022.