Estée Lauder to acquire Tom Ford after all?

Coup de théâtre in the soap about the acquisition of fashion brand Tom Ford: suddenly it seems like not French Kering, but American Estée Lauder will emerge victorious. The acquisition sum of 2.8 billion dollars would make this deal the biggest in Estée Lauder’s history.

Biggest acquisition

An end to the to-and-fro game around Tom Ford seems to be in sight: according to the Financial Times, Estée Lauder is on the verge of acquiring the American luxury brand from the eponymous designer. The acquisition sum would be 2.8 billion dollars (including debts), the FT reports.

For Estée Lauder, it would be the biggest deal in its history, even though the group has already made a number of big acquisitions recently. Just last year, for instance, the group paid a billion dollars for Canadian beauty holding Deciem. However, the Tom Ford acquisition is particularly important for Estée Lauder, as the group is already a licensee of the designer brand’s successful perfumes and personal care products. Especially in China, sales are doing particularly well.

Step into fashion

It seems that Estée Lauder is now on track to beat Kering, a former employer of designer Ford. The French group was also aiming for the brand and until last week, it seemed that the Gucci owner would beable to reel in Tom Ford for three billion dollars. However, it now seems that the negotiations have broken down on certain, unspecified issues.

An official deal and announcement are, however, still pending. What is particularly striking is that the cosmetics group would also take over Tom Ford’s apparel business, a sector in which Estée Lauder is not yet active.