British-based investors Alteri and Epiris have emerged as the new names that may be in the running to buy The Body Shop, Sky News reported.
Alteri Investors, which previously owned Bensons for Beds and Missguided, and Eprisi, former owner of Hotter Shoes, have both submitted indicative offers for the struggling bath and body retailer.
Waterstones owner Elliot Advisors was reported as one of the bidders for The Body Shop after owner Natura & Co said it is “exploring strategic alternatives” including a possible sale of the business.
This comes after Retail Week revealed The Body Shop’s Brazilian parent company Natura was holding out for between £400m and £500m for the retailer, despite the first deadline for bids passing without any concrete interest from prospective buyers.
A source with an understanding of the talks said Morgan Stanley had approached “more than a dozen private equity firms in the City” – including Apollo Global Management, CVC Capital Partners and Blackstone – on behalf of Natura, but was yet to receive any concrete expressions of interest.
The source said potential bidders might be put off by Natura’s valuation for a business it paid €1bn (£807m) for from L’Oréal in 2017. They also wondered whether The Body Shop’s recent spell of poor trading and tough medium- and long-term economic outlook might lead it to lower the asking price.
The source added: “It’s all gone very quiet, which is quite unusual, you would think that things would be heating up behind the scenes.
“[Natura] paid €1bn for the business. The business had been very profitable until last year – they only committed to invest £30m to improve the business back in 2017.
“Morgan Stanley is trying to get around £400m to £500m for a quick sale. Although with The Body Shop seeing difficult trading after Q2 results that number could be a lot less.”
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