The chairman and majority shareholder of French cosmetics brand L’Occitane International 0973.HK is once again considering delisting the company from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
Austrian billionaire Reinold Geiger is in advanced discussions with investors and banks about the deal and an announcement could be made in the coming days, one of the sources said.
American private equity giant Blackstone
BX.N could finance this operation by issuing debt, said the two sources who requested anonymity.
The French company listed in Hong Kong and whose turnover amounts to 5.55 billion dollars (5.06 billion euros), suspended the trading of its shares earlier today, in awaiting a probable announcement specifying the details of a takeover project.
The two sources clarified, however, that the terms of the agreement had not been finalized and that the project could not come to fruition.
A spokesperson for L’Occitane and Blackstone declined to comment.
The potential price that Reinold Geiger was preparing to offer was not immediately specified.
Bloomberg News reported earlier today that Blackstone was moving closer to a plan to delist L’Occitane and could partner with Reinold Geiger.
(Reporting by Kane Wu in Hong Kong and Rishav Chatterjee in Bangalore with contributions from Dominique Vidalon in Paris and Donny Kwok in Hong Kong; French version Lina Golovnya, editing by Kate Entringer)