Global beauty giant L’Oréal announced it has made a minority investment in prestige Chinese perfume house To Summer, as it homes in on the Asian fragrance market.
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The minority investment was made through Shanghai Meicifang Investment, L’Oréal China’s investment company, with participation from BOLD, Business Opportunities for L’Oréal Development, the strategic corporate venture capital fund under L’Oréal Group.
Financial details were not disclosed.
Founded in 2018, To Summer is a modern Chinese fragrance brand rooted in traditional Chinese heritage. Since its inception, the brand today retails perfumes, home fragrances and body care products with 11 stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu and Wuxi.
The Paris-based L’Oréal said the investment commemorates the 60th anniversary of Chinese French diplomatic relations, while showcasing the importance of the Chinese market and Chinese beauty brands to L’Oréal.
In 2022, the group invested in another Chinese fragrance brand, Documents.
Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO of L’Oréal, this week told journalists that while overall growth in the Chinese market remains sluggish, the group is doing rather well.
“In China we have grown by around 5 percent, and by almost 8 percent in terms of product sales. Admittedly, these are not the big double-digit years, but we have the largest market share we’ve ever had, around 32 percent, particularly in luxury goods,” said Hieronimus.
“We are continuing to invest in China, whether in the construction of logistics centres or in investments in Chinese startups. We are on the attack in the Chinese market,” he concluded.
In 2023, L’Oréal sales rose 7.6 percent to EUR 41.18 billion (USD 44.39 billion), on the back of double-digit growth across all regions except North Asia, which was affected by softness in mainland China and travel retail.