The Body Shop was founded in 1976 by Anita Roddick in Brighton, building a global brand on ethically sourced, cruelty-free beauty products. By the 2010s it operated more than 3,000 stores across 70 countries. L'Oréal acquired it in 2006 for £652 million, then sold it to Natura & Co of Brazil in 2017 for £880 million. Natura struggled to revive the brand, and in November 2023 sold it to Aurelius, a German private equity firm, for £207 million — less than a quarter of what Natura had paid.
Aurelius had planned to revitalise The Body Shop's UK operations, but the deal unravelled almost immediately. The dealmaker who had led the acquisition left the firm shortly after the purchase. HSBC, which had provided a credit line under Natura's ownership, withdrew it after the sale. Aurelius failed to secure replacement financing. Without working capital, the UK division could not pay suppliers or meet its rent obligations.
On 15 February 2024 — just three months after the acquisition — Aurelius placed The Body Shop's UK division into administration and appointed FRP Advisory as administrators. The UK division owed over £276 million to creditors, of which about £143 million was owed to other parts of the group. Unsecured creditors, including suppliers and landlords, were owed £219 million and would eventually receive only 16–27% of what they were due.
The collapse cascaded across the group. The US filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, Canada entered creditor protection, closing 33 stores, and European divisions in Germany, Belgium, Denmark and Ireland entered administration. In the UK, 82 stores were closed and 818 jobs were lost — 489 in stores and 329 at head office. In September 2024, Auréa Group acquired the British business and all trademarks, led by Mike Jatania, saving 113 stores and over 1,000 jobs. The collapse became a case study in how private equity destroys value when due diligence is rushed and financing assumptions prove wrong.
The £207M acquisition ended in administration three months later, closing 82 stores and costing 818 jobs.
Aurelius rushed the acquisition without securing committed financing — when HSBC withdrew the existing credit line, the UK business had no working capital to operate
The dealmaker who led the acquisition left Aurelius immediately after the purchase, leaving no internal champion with the relationships or knowledge to fix the financing gap
Natura & Co had already weakened the brand through years of underinvestment and strategic drift, leaving Aurelius with a business that needed capital it could not provide
The cash-pooling structure that had diverted profits from North America to the UK meant that when the UK collapsed, the US and Canadian divisions collapsed too — no profitable units left to sell
A leveraged acquisition without committed financing is not a deal — it is a gamble. When the credit line disappears and the dealmaker leaves, the business has weeks, not months, to find a solution.
The Body Shop's UK business was rescued from administration by Auréa Group in September 2024, saving 113 stores and over 1,000 jobs. The US division was liquidated through Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The Canadian division closed 33 stores. The brand's European operations in Germany, Belgium, Denmark and Ireland were also closed or placed into administration. The Body Shop continues to operate under Auréa ownership but at a fraction of its former scale.
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