The Body Shop might have a saviour in former Mothercare chief

The Body Shop was forced into administration earlier this year after being purchased by private equity firm Aurelius.

The former boss of Mothercare is angling to step in and turnaround The Body Shop after it fell into administration earlier this year.

The Body Shop was forced into administration earlier this year after being purchased by private equity firm Aurelius.

Now, Mark Newton-Jones, who heads up the UK division of Gordon Brothers, has submitted a bid to takeover the business, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

Gordon Brothers is a turnaround firm which has previously liquidated failing companies like Borders and Bed Bath & Beyond, as well as successfully saving Polaroid.

Newton-Jones, who is spearheading the bid, was previously chief executive of Mothercare twice, with the final time seeing him shutter the company’s British stores in 2020.

Mothercare fell into administration in November 2019, and eventually saw some of its UK brands picked up by Boots.

Other potential bidders for The Body Shop include Alteri, Modella Capital, and Doug Putman, the Canadian businessman known for saving HMV in 2019.

The Body Shop was founded by Anita Roddick in 1976, who then sold the company to French beauty giant L’Oreal in 2006. She passed away the following year.

It then moved ownership to Brazilian company Natura & Co in 2017, before being finally being sold to Aurelius in November 2023, less than three months before its collapse.

Last week, it was revealed that the health and beauty chain had racked up £15m in debt to Natura in the brief period between its sale to Aurelius and its collapse into administration.

Natura ultimately owns much of The Body Shop’s manufacturing and logistics chains, allowing it to have significant influence on which bidder is able to obtain the brand.

Both Aurelius and Natura have ruled out making a bid for the business, though there had been rumours that the latter might move to make a bid if the price was low enough.