L'Occitane sold Grown Alchemist for €28M two years after buying control

In March 2022 L'Occitane Group announced it had bought majority control of Grown Alchemist, an Australian skincare brand founded in 2008 by brothers Jeremy and Keston Muijs, because it appealed to 'more health-conscious, influential Millennial and Gen Z customers' and would help the group reach new consumers. André Hoffmann was the group's CEO and vice chairman when the deal was struck.

Two years later the brand was changing hands again. In early April 2024 the group sold a controlling majority stake to Hoffmann — who had left the CEO and vice-chairman roles only days before the announcement, though he stayed on the board — for €28 million (about $30.2 million), returning Grown Alchemist to private ownership. The group's filing said that 'considering changing global economic and market conditions and the material growth of other brands within its portfolio', it was adjusting strategy and would focus resources on its core brand L'Occitane en Provence.

The numbers behind that adjustment: in the nine months to December 31, L'Occitane en Provence was 56.8% of sales, Sol de Janeiro 24.8% and Elemis 10.3%, while 'others' — LimeLife, Melvita, Erborian, L'Occitane au Brésil and Grown Alchemist together — was 8.2%. The brand that was bought to lead the group's generational expansion had never escaped the miscellaneous column.

€28 million exit for a brand bought to reach millennial and Gen Z customers; Grown Alchemist sat inside 'others' at 8.2% of nine-month group sales.

A clean, documented strategy U-turn: bought in 2022 as a growth vehicle, divested by 2024 to refocus on the core brand.

The result is measurable — the entire 'others' bucket holding Grown Alchemist never got past 8.2% of sales.

The buyer is the group's own former CEO who led it when the acquisition was made, buying control days after leaving his executive roles.

Fully third-party sourced via Retail Dive and the group's own filings.

An acquisition bought for a demographic story still needs a route into the P&L: two years on, Grown Alchemist was an 8.2% 'other' — the group's own pivot, not the brand, decided its fate.

Grown Alchemist went back to being privately held, with CEO Anna Teal taking a minority stake and the new owners promising 'business flexibility', lifestyle and music-brand partnerships, and acceleration in North America and China. L'Occitane Group kept concentrating on L'Occitane en Provence, Sol de Janeiro and Elemis, which it said would improve overall financial performance.