Rescue for The Body Shop

The Body Shop’s remaining 113 stores will stay open following a deal struck with a consortium led by Mike Jatania’s Aurea Group.

The company will also be taking control of The Body Shop’s assets in Australia and North America.

Aurea said that the operation was its largest to date but preferred not to give details of the amounts involved in a transaction that will save the jobs of 1,300 shop and office workers.

Jatania’s investment company had no immediate plans to close more stores, sources said, although it was likely to look for better locations for current shops.

Charles Denton, former chief executive of the Molton Brown perfume bran, will take on the same role at The Body Shop and head the new leadership team with Jatania.

Nicknamed the “Cosmetics King”,  Jatania was chief executive of family-run Lornamead, which  owned Lypsyl, Woods of Windsor, Yardley and Harmony hair products, before the company was sold for £155 million (€183.8 million) in 2012.

The Body Shop went into administration in February 2024 after its new owner, private equity firm Aurelius, acquired the company for £207 million (€245.4 million) in December 2023.

This was far short of the £870 million (€1billion) that Natura, the previous owner paid for The Body Shop.

In the event, Aurelius was unable to turn the company round and by last February owed creditors more than £276 million (€327.1 million), triggering the high street chain’s collapse when HSBC withdrew a line of credit and the new owner failed to obtain alternative funding.