In November 2023, the German private equity company Aurelius bought The Body Shop for around 207 million pounds. It has now had to file for insolvency in the UK, putting 2,200 jobs at the cosmetics chain at risk. The accounting firm FRP Advisory has been appointed as insolvency administrator.
The administrators stated that “focusing on the UK business is the next important step in the restructuring of The Body Shop”: “This approach provides the stability, flexibility and certainty to best secure the future of The Body Shop and revitalize this iconic British brand”.
Aurelius recently sold the stores in mainland Europe and Asia to an international family office.
The Body Shop was founded in 1976 by the late environmental and human rights activist Anita Roddick. The first store opened in Brighton in 1976 and a franchise model quickly allowed the company, which was known for its strict moral principles, to expand. In 2006, it was sold to the French cosmetics group L’Oréal for around 650 million pounds. When sales declined, the global corporation sold the brand to the Brazilian company Natura, which already had Aesop in its portfolio. When Natura concentrated on its core Latin American market, it sold The Body Shop to Aurelius. The cosmetics company Aesop, founded in Australia in 1987, was sold to L’Oréal in 2023.
