L’Oréal Exits Investment in Sanoflore
PARIS — L’Oréal has sold green beauty brand Sanoflore to French investment fund Ekkio Capital and Sergio Calandri, Sanoflore’s new chief executive officer, who is also the founder of Inula Group, which has other natural product brands.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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“L’Oréal has a portfolio of complimentary brands. The group’s strategy is to acquire and, sometimes, exit the brands to keep a very strong portfolio and the complementarity it needs to thrive over the long term,” the group said in a statement.
“The success of L’Oréal Dermatological Beauty is based on a strategy and a business model focused on brands prescribed by health care professionals,” the group continued. “Under these conditions, the division has decided to focus on the dermatological brands in its portfolio.”
Ekkio Capital specializes in small and medium-size companies in the health and beauty space. Calandri’s Inula Group includes brands HerbalGem and Biofloral.
“This sale does not result in any redundancies in France,” L’Oréal said, adding that it ”supports each of the employees concerned with career development tailored to their skills. The brand’s external partners are also supported, in line with our group’s strong social values.”
L’Oréal acquired Sanoflore in October 2006, the same year it purchased natural beauty-maker and retailer The Body Shop, which it subsequently sold. At the time, industry watchers believed it heralded in a seismic shift in the beauty industry toward green cosmetics, which turned out to be the case.
At the time, Sanoflore, based in the Drome region of southeast France, was already 20 years old. The brand founded by Fodolphe Balz was then added to what was then called L’Oréal’s Active Cosmetics division. The group’s plan was to capitalize on consumer demand for organic products and expand Sanoflore’s international reach.
L’Oréal Dermatological Beauty division includes brands such as La Roche-Posay, Vichy and CeraVe. In the second quarter of 2023, the branch’s sales reached 1.6 billion euros, a 27.3 percent rise versus the same prior-year period.
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