Natura&Co, the parent company of Brazilian cosmetics giant Natura, has signed a binding agreement to sell Australian brand Aesop to L’Oréal for more than USD 2.5 billion.
According to an official statement, the move will allow Natura to deleverage its balance sheet and focus on its priorities — notably integration in Latin America, the optimization of Avon International’s footprint, and the continued improvement of The Body Shop, which, according to recent rumors circulating in the market and already denied by Natura, was up for sale.
Aesop was the only Natura brand to post revenue growth in 2022, up 4.65 percent to BRL 2.7 billion (USD 530 million), representing 7.5 percent of the holding company’s annual net revenue.
The Brazilian cosmetics giant is going through a rough patch. Its revenue generation was hit hard by the inflationary crisis in Latin America and especially in Europe, which brought down the revenues of its subsidiaries The Body Shop and Avon International. The latter was also affected by the recent sanctions against Russia, its largest consumer market.
Natura announced a restructuring to simplify its operations and reduce its workforce in 2022. Additionally, in the last week of March, the board also proposed to shareholders a reduction in the number of board seats and the value of executive salaries.Natura&Co CEO Fábio Barbosa said in a conference call with investors that the deal should be completed by Q3 2023.
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