L‘Occitane Boss Decides Against Take-Private Deal
L’Occitane International, the Hong Kong-listed French skin care company, said Tuesday it had ended talks to take the company private.
The firm’s stock price fell as much as 29 percent on Tuesday, after the company resumed trading. L’Occitane halted trading on Monday due to a pending offer announcement.
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“The board of directors of the company announces that it was informed by the controlling shareholder on September 3, 2023, that it has decided not to proceed with the possible transaction,” the company said in a notice published on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
“In contemplating a possible transaction, the controlling shareholder considered various options, including the option of not pursuing any transaction at all, depending on market conditions and pending a feasible financing and structure option. Not all conditions were met and the controlling shareholder decided not to proceed with a possible transaction,” a L’Occitane spokesperson told WWD via email.
The company told investors in August that the company’s controlling shareholder, L’Occitane chairman Reinold Geiger, who owns more than 70 percent of the company, was considering potential buyout deals that would value the company at no less than 26 Hong Kong dollars, or $3.32 a share.
“This [the failed takeover] might suggest that there is a discrepancy between the controlling shareholder and minority shareholders on an offer price,” Jefferies said in an analyst note.
In a bet to capture the fast growing Chinese consumer market, L’Occitane went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2010.
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 increase its presence in the clean beauty market, the company acquired Elemis, Sol de Janeiro and Grown Alchemist in recent years.
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