Yahoo Finance The Body Shop: What next for high street icon as tycoon eyes rescue deal?
The future of collapsed high street icon The Body Shop could be decided in the next two weeks as it emerged that British tycoon Mike Jatania was in exclusive talks to rescue the brand.
Aurea Holding, an investment firm that Jantania heads up, is leading a consortium taking part in late-stage discussions with administrators FRP Advisory to acquire the business.
The news, which was first reported by Bloomberg, comes after The Body Shop collapsed into administration in February with the loss of hundreds of jobs.
It is understood that the consortium also includes Charles Denton, a previous chief executive of beauty brands Molton Brown and Erno Laszlo.
Jatania sold Lornamead, the owner of personal-care brands including Lypsyl, to rival Li & Fung for around £155m just over ten years ago.
It was revealed in April that The Body Shop owed more than £276m to its creditors when it entered administration.
The latest news comes after it was reported in June that the former boss of Mothercare was angling to step in and turnaround The Body Shop.
In February, the locations of The Body Shop stores which were to close following the brand’s collapse into administration were revealed. The move saw 489 members of staff lose their jobs.
Earlier than month The Body Shop officially entered administration, as FRP Advisory was appointed to oversee the process.
The Body Shop was established by the late Dame Anita Roddick in 1976 and was recently bought by private equity firm Aurelius. The retailer has more than 200 shops in the UK and is headquartered in London.
It started out as a single shop in Brighton and has become well-known for its ethical trading stance as well as being against testing beauty products on animals.
Dame Anita sold the company to French beauty giant L’Oreal for £652m in 2006 ahead of her death in the following year.
