L’Oréal Acquires Kering’s Beauty Division in €4 Billion Transaction

Kering is continuing its attempt to reduce its debt. The French company has confirmed the sale of its cosmetics division to L’Oréal for 4 billion euros. The deal covers the cosmetics giant’s acquisition of the Creed house, as well as the fragrance and beauty licenses of Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga and McQueen.

The French giant confirmed the sale in a statement. In this way, the group, led since summer by Luca de Meo, begins to take steps to reduce the debt that, in June, amounted to $11 billion.

With this acquisition, L’Oréal expands its cosmetics offering, adding to the brands it already owns, such as Garnier and Maybelline New York.

Kering accumulates a debt of $11 billion, which it will begin to reduce with the sale to L’Oréal

Kering has experienced a slowdown in sales of brands such as Gucci in China and Saint Laurent in the United States. Luca de Meo has already made his goal at the helm of the company very clear at its first general meeting: “We must continue to reduce debt and costs, and this will involve rationalizing, organizing and repositioning some of our brands,“ he said.

In 2024, the French group reduced its sales by 4% and closed the year with a double-digit drop in net profit. Kering, founded in 1963 by François Pinault and controlled by the Pinault family through its Artémis holding company, has begun a process of internal review of its portfolio, with special attention to Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta.

L’Oréal got off to a good start in 2025, beating forecasts in the first quarter and posting €11.73 billion in sales for the period, 4.4% more than in the same period of the previous year.With the exception of North America, where sales fell by 1.4%, all its divisions and regions were up. Europe remained its largest market, with growth of 4.9%, while the luxury division led the advance with an increase of 7.3%.