European Beauty M&A Activity Heats Up

PARIS — European beauty M&A activity is heating up, with licenses and companies changing hands or receiving cash injections at an ever-quickening pace. On Tuesday, rumors that Prada and Puig would end their fragrance and beauty partnership reached a crescendo, and L’Oréal is believed to be waiting in the wings as the Italian company’s next licensee, according to industry sources. The previous week, Beiersdorf said it had taken an equity stake in the single-digit-million-euro range in biotech S-Biomedic NV to collaborate on research into skin microbiome. These were just the latest in a string of deals in the works. In late June, it emerged that Goldman Sachs had been tapped to explore sale options for Space NK, the prestige, U.K.-based beauty retailer. And Caron, among France’s oldest fragrance houses now owned by Alès Groupe, is being shopped around. Ditto for Cult Beauty, the highly curated e-tailer out of the U.K., to name but a few. Meanwhile, fragrance licenses said to be in the market for new ownership include Alexander McQueen, Sonia Rykiel, Roberto Cavalli, Iro and SMCP group’s fashion brands Sandro, Maje and Claudie Pierlot. There are many reasons why Europe is percolating right now. “I think we are like three years [behind] the U.S.,”

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