According to sources, the French cosmetics group L’Oreal is about to take over the Kering beauty division. The Gucci parent business, which includes perfume maker Creed, is expected to be valued at around 4 billion euros in the transaction, a report by the Bloomberg news agency said on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The “Wall Street Journal” had previously reported on this, but mentioned a slightly lower sum as the possible purchase price. The agreement could be announced as early as next week unless another bidder emerges or negotiations fail unexpectedly. Representatives of the two companies did not want to comment on the information or could not be reached at the moment.
For the Kering Group, which is currently undergoing restructuring, a sale of the division that was only formed a few years ago would be an opportunity to reduce the high mountain of debt. Kering’s stock market value has fallen by around half to less than 40 billion euros due to the company’s many problems, especially with its core brand Gucci. L’Oreal’s, on the other hand, has risen by around a third to almost 210 billion euros.