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If rumours floating around Paris yesterday are on the ball, then PPR's Francois-Henri Pinault has now got his acquisitive eyes fixed on Clarins.
The French cosmetics company saw its stock jump 7.7% on the speculation that PPR would make a bid for company in the coming days, pushing its market capitalisation to more than 2.6b euros. This rumour follows previous speculation that L'Oreal would make a bid for Clarins, after the death of its founder Jacques Courtin-Clarins in March of this year.
Acquisition rumours like this are a dime a dozen. But, this one might actually have some legs. An industry insider sitting next to me at last evening's Walpole Awards said that attempts to reach PPR and Clarins to comment had been completely futile. Neither party had confirmed or denied the rumours - it was just radio silence and phones were just not being answered. It was precisely because of this that he was thinking twice about whether these rumours deserved more serious attention.
Industry analyst Emmanuel Soupe of Banque de Neuflize in Paris says that a link-up between Clarins and PPR's YSL Beaute unit would make
more sense than a tie-up with L'Oreal, which could pose regulatory problems. Clarins is clearly a potential target. We'll see consolidation in the cosmetics sector.
An acquisition of Clarins by PPR would follow the acquisition of Puma earlier this year, which was hailed by many as a master stroke by Pinault to enter the booming market for designer athletic wear and shoes, which is a different market than that of other PPR fashion brands like Gucci, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen.
