L'Occitane shares shed 30% after owner shelves take-private deal (updated)
05/09/2023 03:21
(Adds Tuesday opening share price and deal detail)
HONG KONG/BEIJING Sept 5 (Reuters) - Hong Kong-listed
skincare specialist L'Occitane International SA 0973.HK shares
fell almost 30% on Tuesday after its chairman and controlling
shareholder said he decided against a deal to take the company
private, curbing speculation of a European listing.
L'Occitane's stock slid to HK$19.70 in early trading after
Chairman Reinold Geiger's investment holding company, L'Occitane
Groupe SA, decided not to go ahead with a take-private offer it
last month said would be worth no less than HK$26.00 a share.
L'Occitane's market capitalisation declined to HK$29 billion
($3.70 billion) from HK$40.9 billion based on the stock's last
closing price on Friday.
Sources had earlier told Reuters that Geiger had also been
speaking to advisers about the possibility of re-listing the
skincare products group on a European exchange as soon as next
year.
L'Occitane Groupe SA owned 72.5% of the skincare firm at the
end of May.
L'Occitane listed in Hong Kong in 2010 and was one of the
first Western companies to sell its primary shares in the Asian
financial hub as it looked to boost its exposure to the rapidly
growing Chinese market.
Austrian billionaire Geiger doubled sales at the
beauty-store chain over the last decade, with the retailer now
having 3,000 outlets in 90 countries selling organic beauty
products.
However, the firm lags behind peers in the cosmetic sector,
including French firm L'Oreal SA OREP.PA , in terms of its
forward price to earnings ratio.
Italian fashion house Prada SpA 1913.F has also been
seeking a dual listing in Italy along with its Hong Kong
listing.
Hong Kong has recently emerged as an epicentre of buyout
deals, with a range of companies having depressed valuations.
Imax Corp IMAX.N , the big-screen cinema company, is set to
assume full control of its listed Chinese entity, while snack
maker Dali Foods Group 3799.HK also received a takeover
proposal in June.
Bloomberg News last month reported Geiger was discussing a
possible offer of about HK$35 for each L'Occitane share he did
not already own.
The company later clarified that if a deal were to go
through, the potential offer price would be no less than
HK$26.00 per share.
($1 = 7.8399 Hong Kong dollars)
(Reporting by Donny Kwok in Hong Kong and Roxanne Liu in
Beijing; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Jamie Freed)
((donny.kwok@thomsonreuters.com; +852 3462 7745;))