L’Occitane Shares Shed 30% After Owner Shelves Take-Private Deal

Hong Kong-listed skincare specialist L’Occitane Worldwide SA shares fell virtually 30 p.c on Tuesday after its chairman and controlling shareholder stated he determined towards a deal to take the corporate personal, curbing hypothesis of a European itemizing.

L’Occitane’s inventory slid to HK$19.70 in early buying and selling after chairman Reinold Geiger’s funding holding firm, L’Occitane Groupe SA, determined to not go forward with a take-private supply it final month stated could be price a minimum of HK$26.00 a share.

L’Occitane’s market capitalisation declined to HK$29 billion ($3.70 billion) from HK$40.9 billion based mostly on the inventory’s final closing value on Friday.

Sources had earlier instructed Reuters that Geiger had additionally been talking to advisers about the potential for re-listing the skincare merchandise group on a European trade as quickly as subsequent yr.

L’Occitane Groupe SA owned 72.5 p.c of the skincare agency on the finish of Could.

L’Occitane listed in Hong Kong in 2010 and was one of many first Western corporations to promote its main shares within the Asian monetary hub because it appeared to spice up its publicity to the quickly rising Chinese language market.

Austrian billionaire Geiger doubled gross sales on the beauty-store chain over the past decade, with the retailer now having 3,000 shops in 90 international locations promoting natural magnificence merchandise.

Nonetheless, the agency lags behind friends within the beauty sector, together with French agency L’Oréal SA, when it comes to its ahead value to earnings ratio.

Italian trend home Prada SpA has additionally been in search of a twin itemizing in Italy together with its Hong Kong itemizing.

Hong Kong has just lately emerged as an epicentre of buyout offers, with a spread of corporations having depressed valuations.

Imax Corp, the big-screen cinema firm, is ready to imagine full management of its listed Chinese language entity, whereas snack maker Dali Meals Group additionally obtained a takeover proposal in June.

Bloomberg Information final month reported Geiger was discussing a doable supply of about HK$35 for every L’Occitane share he didn’t already personal.

The corporate later clarified that if a deal had been to undergo, the potential supply value could be a minimum of HK$26.00 per share.

By Donny Kwok and Roxanne Liu; Editors: Christian Schmollinger and Jamie Freed

Study extra:

L’Occitane Halts Trading in Hong Kong as Take-Private Bets Swell

The agency stated in August that its controlling shareholder was contemplating a doable deal to take the corporate personal with a minimal doable supply of HK$26 ($3.31) per share.