Yahoo Finance L’Occitane Billionaire Owner Close to Possible $7 Billion Buyout Deal
L’Occitane‘s exit from the public market could finally materialize, after almost a year of back-and-forth negotiation.
The French skin care group’s billionaire owner, Reinold Geiger, is reportedly in talks to take the company private in a deal worth approximately $7 billion, including debt, as reported by Bloomberg News.
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Geiger, who owns more than 70 percent of the Hong Kong-listed company, is making an offer to acquire the remaining shares of L’Occitane, with the proposed price range being 33 Hong Kong dollars to 34 Hong Kong dollars, or $4.22 to $4.34, per share, according to Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the situation.
The potential offer would price the company at a premium of around 12 percent to 15 percent. The Bloomberg report added that Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities Fund and Goldman Sachs’ asset management branch would provide around 1.6 billion euros to help finance the deal, according to the source.
L’Occitane did not respond to a request from WWD seeking comment.
The company has halted trading since April 9, pending an announcement related to takeover codes, according to company filing submitted at the time. The stock closed at 29.5 Hong Kong dollars a day earlier, which gives the company a value of around 43.5 billion Hong Kong dollars, or $5.5 billion.
Geiger, who is L’Occitane’s executive director and chairman, has been mulling a move to take the company private since last July. He first became a minority shareholder in the company in 1994 and later became instrumental in orchestrating L’Occitane’s global expansion, especially in the Asian markets.
The company’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.
Last August, Geiger told investors that he was considering potential buyout deals that would value the company at no less than 26 Hong Kong dollars, or $3.32, a share. In September, Geiger told investors he has opted out a deal from L’Occitane Groupe SA, Geiger’s investment holding company, to privatize the company, causing a decline in shares.
The delisting would end L’Occitane’s 14-year run on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The potential deal would be one of the biggest in the market. In 2017, Belle International, a Chinese footwear company, was taken private in a deal priced at around $5.82 billion.
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