L’Oréal to buy YSL Beauté from PPR

Nicole Mezzasalma

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The €1.15bn ($1.68bn) deal includes the YSL, Boucheron, Roger & Gallet, Stella McCartney, Oscar de la Renta and Ermenegildo Zegna brands

Beauty supplier L’Oréal has made an offer to PPR regarding Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) Beauté, including the Roger & Gallet brand. The  €1.15bn ($1.68bn) deal would see L’Oréal take over the licences in fragrances and cosmetics for the Stella McCartney, Oscar de la Renta and Ermenegildo Zegna brands, and give the company “an exclusive and very long-term” worldwide licence for the use of the YSL and Boucheron brands in fragrances and cosmetics. On the basis of this offer, PPR has granted “exclusive negotiation rights” to L’Oréal.

L’Oréal CEO Jean-Paul Agon said: “This proposed agreement represents a great opportunity for L’Oréal and its Luxury Products Division. Yves Saint Laurent is a mythical French luxury brand. It is admired the world over and is particularly complementary with our current brands. We are convinced that its integration into our Luxury Products Division would speed up its development. This strategic agreement will reinforce our position in the luxury cosmetics market”.

PPR chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault added: “With this strategic agreement with the world leader in cosmetics, Gucci Group gives YSL Beauté the opportunity to take full advantage of its upside potential. It also enables the Yves Saint Laurent brand, in the field of beauty, to fully align its ambition with its worldwide reputation. YSL would thus boost its position as a great luxury brand. With its expertise and knowledge of international markets, L’Oréal would be able to continue and step up the work already achieved to date. L’Oréal would also offer a unique development platform for the Roger & Gallet, Boucheron, Stella McCartney, Oscar de la Renta and Zegna brands. With this projected agreement, PPR reasserts its ambition to bolster the development of Gucci Group’s brands.”

A joint statement from the companies said the agreement should be signed in the coming weeks, subject to approval by the appropriate authorities. YSL Beauté recorded sales of about €630m ($920m) in 2006.