The Body Shop: French subsidiary falls, UK CVA to be explored

Aurelius is continuing down the spiralling path of restructuring The Body Shop, and has now put the struggling beauty retailer’s French subsidiary into administration.

Akin to similar moves in Germany, the UK, the US and Belgium, The Body Shop filed for bankruptcy with the Paris commercial court, as reported by various media, granting the company a six-month observation period to carry out its recovery strategy.

Aurelius, the private equity firm that acquired The Body Shop in 2023 from Natura &Co., had appointed insolvency experts FRP Advisory to handle the UK administrative process early February, which at the time said it would “consider all options to find a way forward for the business”.

Alongside the shuttering of The Body Shop’s 75 UK stores, FRP has continued to explore various options, with the administrators now also understood to be mulling a voluntary arrangement (CVA) for the company.

This is according to Sky News, which had seen proposals sent to The Body Shop’s creditors in which it was stated that a CVA would “allow the company to be rescued and exit for administration”.

FRP noted in the report: “In the event that a CVA cannot be agreed, the joint administrators will proceed with a sale of the business and assets.”