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The Body Shop is about to be rescued by British tycoon Mike Jatania.
The fate of the beauty retailer has been hanging in the balance since February, when its administration led to the loss of 759 jobs and the closure of 82 stores.
But now cosmetics billionaire Jatania is in talks to strike a deal through his investment firm Aurea.
This has raised hopes that the remaining 116 stores and around 1,400 employees can be saved.
British cosmetics tycoon Mike Jatania (pictured with his wife Sonal) is seeking to rescue the Body Shop chain, which filed for bankruptcy in February.
A sale is expected in the coming weeks and Jatania has started due diligence checks, according to a statement from Aurea and administrators FRP Advisory.
Plans include hiring former head of shower gel brand Molton Brown, Charles Denton, as chief executive.
The statement said: “While the deal is not yet complete, we believe the combined experience of the consortium, together with existing management, represents the best outcome for creditors and will ultimately ensure the long-term success of The Body Shop.”
He said the proposed deal is the result of a “competitive bidding process.”
Among those speculated to have joined the bid are Gordon Brothers, the private equity firm behind Laura Ashley, while Marks & Spencer and Next are also thought to have considered it but decided not to bid.
Jatania, 59, previously ran Lornamead, which owned numerous body care brands including Yardley, Lypsyl and Harmony Haircare.
His partners at Aurea include former UBS banker Paul Raphael and Pharmapacks founder Andrew Vagenas.
But Jatania and Denton face an uphill battle to turn the Body Shop around. The company had 198 stores and 2,200 staff in the UK when it filed for bankruptcy in February.
Its collapse came almost half a century after it was created in Brighton in 1976 by Anita Roddick.
She and her husband Gordon sold the company to L’Oreal for £652m in 2006. A year later, Roddick died, aged 64, following a brain haemorrhage.
Under L’Oréal’s direction, production moved to the Philippines and discounts boosted sales.
In 2017, Avon was bought by Brazilian firm Natura & Co., which owns Avon, for £880m. Last November, the company was sold for a reduced price of £207m to German private equity firm Aurelius.
In February, administrators warned that its retail portfolio was “no longer viable” after “years of unprofitability” and suggested that up to 100 stores could close.
It closed stores with higher rent and other costs, including those in Bristol, Nuneaton in Warwickshire and Ashford in Kent, and four in London.
From war-torn Uganda to Bond’s lair
By SHAPLAND BRAND
Known as the ‘King of Cosmetics’, Mike Jatania is one of Britain’s richest businessmen and property investors.
Together with his three brothers, Vin, Danny and George, the Jatanias are worth £650m.
They initially made money when family business Lornamead was bought by Hong Kong rival Li & Fung in 2013 for £250m.
Country estate: Last year, Jatania put her 12-bedroom mansion, Denham Place, up for sale
Founded in 1978, the firm specialised in acquiring unglamorous personal care brands such as Yardley and Lipsil and reselling them. But it was Mike, pictured above, who, despite being the youngest, took it on and made it a success.
He joined in 1985 and became CEO in 1990, once joking: “The fact that I’m the youngest and I’m running the group says a lot about my brothers and their judgment.”
Since then, he has invested in several high-profile property developments, including Regent’s Crescent in London.
Last year he put his 12-bedroom mansion, Denham Place, up for sale in what is expected to be one of the largest country property transactions in history.
Previous residents of the 17th-century building in Buckinghamshire include members of Napoleon Bonaparte’s family, as well as Wall Street banker John Pierpont Morgan.
It is also said to have inspired scenes in the James Bond films.
Jatania, who currently resides in Monaco and was educated in Dulwich, is a regular on the London charity circuit alongside his glamorous wife Sonal.
It has been a long way since his humble arrival in the UK in 1969, when his father moved the family to Britain from Uganda after Idi Amin expelled Asians from the country.
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