L’Oréal officially inks Body Shop deal with Natura

CLICHY, France — L’Oréal is officially selling The Body Shop to a Brazilian cosmetics giant. The company on Wednesday announced that it had signed a sale agreement with Natura Cosmeticos to purchase the retail chain. The two companies entered exclusive talks in early June, and L’Oréal said it had signed the deal following advice from its Works Council.

L’Oréal valued The Body Shop — for which it began exploring options in February following a difficult year during which it posted a 4.8% sales decline — at roughly 1 billion euros.

“[Natura] is the best new owner we could imagine to nurture the brand DNA around naturality and ethics,” L’Oréal CEO and chairman Jean-Paul Agon said. “Natura will support The Body Shop development in the long-term and enable The Body Shop to best serve its customers while respecting its strong commitments towards its employees, franchisees and stakeholders. I would like to thank all The Body Shop employees and partners around the world for their contribution to the development of the brand over the past eleven years and I am confident they will be in the best hands for the future.”

L’Oréal said it expects the sale to close in 2017, pending clearance from Brazilian and American anti-trust agencies.