The Body Shop Restructures Leadership and Appoints New CEO Following Rescue

British natural cosmetics company The Body Shop has appointed Mike Jatania as its new CEO, after serving as executive chairman since late last year. Jatania is the co-founder of Aurea, the investment group that bought the company nine months ago, and takes over from Charles Denton.

The Body Shop was rescued from receivership in February last year after German private equity group Aurelius announced that it had been unable to turn it around following negative results. The division went into receivership under the supervision of FRP Advisory.

When Aurelius bought it, The Body Shop was in the hands of Brazil’s Natura, and the acquisition was closed for 207 million pounds (237.6 million euros at the exchange rate at the time). Its adventure did not last long: in February it entered into insolvency proceedings, first in the United Kingdom, then in the United States, Canada and France.

The Body Shop was rescued from bankruptcy by Aurea, after having been acquired by the German fund Aurelius.

In 2024,the company appointed Penny Brook as marketing director, coming from Golden Goose, and Sally Dowling, formerly GSF Cars, as chief financial and operations officer. In addition, the company moved its headquarters back to Brighton, England, where it was born at the hands of founder Anita Roddick almost fifty years ago. Until then, the headquarters were in two locations: Littlehampton, West Sussex, and London.

In Spain and Portugal, the company passed in 2024 to Veneta Petkova and Diego Ortiz de Zevallos, who will lead the franchises in the two markets. Veneta Petkova began its journey in the retail world more than fifteen years ago. She started in 2009 hand in hand with the Spanish company Textura in Bulgaria and in 2015 launched Duka, a Scandinavian brand of designer home accessories. In 2018, Veneta opened The Body Shop franchise in Bulgaria.

For his part, Diego Ortiz de Zevallos has worked in the cosmetics industry for more than twelve years holding strategic positions at the L’Óreal in Paris, The Body Shop in London and most recently as general manager of The Body Shop Iberia and Scandinavia. In Spain, the company has about forty stores.