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L’Occitane is set to become a private company.
On Monday, the company’s chair and majority shareholder Reinold Geiger announced that the firm had secured funding from Blackstone and Goldman Sachs for a $1.8 billion take-private transaction. It values the company, which has been listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange since 2010, at $6.4 billion. The final offer price of $34 HKD ($4.30) a share is a 61 percent premium on its average closing price, and an almost 31 percent premium over its closing price on its last day of standard trading, Feb. 5 2024, when Bloomberg reported that a privatisation offer was underway. On April 9, 2024, shares were indefinitely suspended from trading.
In a statement, Geiger, who owns 73 percent of company shares, said the industry was undergoing profound changes, but that L’Occitane, which owns its namesake label alongside newer hits like Sol de Janeiro, had successfully become a global multi-brand group; “The transaction we are launching today will enable us to focus on rebuilding the foundation for the long-term sustainable growth of our company,” he said.
External debt facilities will also be provided by Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank. L’Occitane said that its current management will be kept in place.
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Geiger must gain the acceptance of at least 90 percent of shareholders by Aug. 26 2024 before squeeze-out procedures, which would trigger a mandatory sale, can commence.
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