L’Occitane shares jump as controlling shareholder mulls buyout

Shares successful skincare concatenation L'Occitane International person jumped successful trading connected the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The planetary institution confirmed connected Friday that its controlling shareholder is contemplating a imaginable woody to instrumentality it private.

L'Occitane's billionaire president Reinold Geiger already controls astir 3 quarters of its shares.

The retailer has implicit 3,000 outlets successful 90 countries astir the satellite and has much than 8,500 employees.

Trading successful L'Occitane's shares were halted connected the Hong Kong Stock Exchange connected Friday aft Bloomberg News reported that Mr Geiger was successful precocious talks to instrumentality it private.

The concern quality transmission said that the imaginable woody could worth the steadfast astatine astir $6.5bn (£5.1bn), oregon arsenic overmuch arsenic HK$35 ($4.47; £3.53) a share.

However, L'Occitane said successful an speech filing that reports that the buyout terms could beryllium that precocious were "false and without basis", but if a woody did spell through, the imaginable connection terms would not beryllium little than HK$26 a share.

Mr Geiger's concern holding company, L'Occitane Groupe, owns much than 70% of the retailer.

L'Occitane's shares were astir 10% higher astatine HK$28 successful Monday day trading successful Hong Kong.

The company's shares person risen by much than 40% successful the past month.

L'Occitane's latest yearly fiscal study showed that it generated €2.13bn ($2.33bn; £1.84bn) successful nett income and made an operating nett of €239.1m.

In April, the concatenation said it would adjacent its Russian shops and website, conscionable days aft defending its determination to proceed trading successful the country.

The steadfast said the determination followed the "enormous quality suffering and escalating subject enactment successful Ukraine".

Some customers had criticised the institution for its determination and called for a boycott of the brand.