L’Oréal in Talks to Acquire Kering’s Beauty Division for $4 Billion

Kering starts selling assets to reduce its debt. Currently headed by Luca de Meo, the French luxury company is considering the sale of its cosmetics division to L’Oréal for around $4 billion to reduce the French luxury giant’s debt, which amounted to $11 billion in June. The deal could be announced in the coming weeks.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the group, which owns brands such as Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga and McQueen, is reportedly in talks with the French cosmetics giant. L’Oréal has brands such as Garnier and Maybelline New York.

In order to reduce the debt that Kering has accumulated in recent months due to the slowdown in sales of brands such as Gucci in China or Saint Laurent in the United States, Luca de Meo is contemplating the sale of the beauty division for $4 billion.

Kering accumulates a debt of $11 billion and declining sales in the last fiscal year

At June 30th, Kering had accumulated a debt of approximately $11 billion. Luca de Meo already made his goal as head 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 $11.734 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 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%.