Germany’s Douglas Holding close to buying French cosmetics retailer Nocibe

Douglas Holding AG, the German perfume, book, jewelry and confection retailer, is close to finalising a deal to buy French perfume and cosmetics retailer Nocibe, Les Echos yesterday reported, citing sources.

Douglas Holding, owned by private equity firm Advent International, and Nocibe, owned by Charterhouse Capital Partners, have agreed on an indicative price of between €500-€550 million ($683-$752 million, the report said.

The merger will create the second-largest cosmetics retailer in France behind LVMH's Sephora, but ahead of Marionnaud, a company owned by Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa.

London-based Charterhouse, which has completed 137 transactions valued over €50 billion, acquired Nocibé in 2005 from Bridgepoint Capital for €490 million.

Founded in 1984 by Daniel Vercamer, Nocibé has around 460 perfume stores in France and annual turnover of €680 million.                                                                                                                                       

Advent International and the Kreke family, founder of Douglas, through their newly-established investment vehicle Beauty Holding, acquired the company in 2012 for €1.5-billion.

Douglas owns over 1,900 stores, more than 1,500 of which are in Germany and the US. It has more than 1,168 perfume stores in 18 European countries, according to its website. It also owns 295 ''Thalia'' book stores, 207 ''Christ'' jewellery stores 13 ''AppelrathCüpper'' fashion stores, and 245 ''Hussel'' confectionery shops.