L'Oreal buys luxury brand Aesop with eye on China

France's L'Oreal (OREP.PA) has agreed to buy Australian luxury brand Aesop from Natura & Co (NTCO3.SA) for an enterprise value of $2.53 billion, growing its presence in high-end cosmetics with an eye to international expansion, including in China.

For L'Oreal, which owns labels ranging from Maybelline to Lancome, and has been moving upmarket where consumers are less affected by an economic downturn, the deal is its largest brand acquisition to date, according to Dealogic data.

It provides Brazil's Natura, owner of Avon and The Body Shop, with some financial relief from shrinking margins and heavy debt.

It was L'Oreal that sold The Body Shop to Natura in 2017, and with Aesop's acquisition the French giant - which has a market capitalization of 223 billion euros ($243.45 billion) - is again the owner of a retail-based beauty and personal-hygiene brand.

"The acquisition will strengthen L'Oreal's leadership in the natural cosmetics market," said Jie Zhang, analyst at Alphavalue, adding that deal-making activity by major groups was moving to the fast-growing beauty industry.

L'Oreal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus said in a statement the group saw "massive growth potential" in Aesop, notably in China - where the Australian brand made its debut with two stores in the last quarter of 2022 - and travel retail.

The French cosmetics group is known for buying emerging labels, and scaling them up through its global distribution network, Ian Simpson, analyst with Barclays, said, estimating Aesop will add around 1.2% to L'Oreal's organic sales this year.

"Given L'Oreal's strong track record of creating value from recent acquisitions, we expect this transaction to be helpful to sentiment, despite its limited size relative to L'Oreal," he said.

The brand, Natura's most profitable, operates almost 400 stores and posted sales of $537 million in 2022, up 21% in constant currency from a year earlier.

It also reported double-digit growth across all its regions last year, and said it had entered the Chinese market - one of the fastest growing for cosmetics - "with strong performance that exceeded expectations".

For Natura, the deal is part of a broader organizational shake-up that saw former chief executive and executive chairman Roberto Marques step down last June to make way for Fabio Barbosa.

Subject to regulatory approvals, the acquisition will be paid in cash, expected in the third quarter of 2023, Natura said.

Established in 1987, Melbourne-headquartered Aesop offers skin, hair and body care products.

($1 = 0.9160 euros)