Beauty firm aims to strengthen dominance in global market


Amore Pacific Corp. said Wednesday that it has completed a deal to take over French luxury perfume brand Annick Goutal on Tuesday.

It was the first overseas merger and acquisition case for the nation’s largest cosmetics maker with nearly 40 percent of the domestic market share.

According to the company, its overseas holding company AMOREPACIFIC Global Operations Ltd. signed the takeover deal with a U.S. buyout fund Starwood Capital on Tuesday in Paris.

“The takeover will strengthen the company’s status as a global beauty company while diversifying its brand portfolio,” the company said in a statement. 

Even though it is focusing more on the Asian market currently, the company said, it aims to strengthen its market dominance in the United States and Europe in the long term.

As part of the efforts, having a French luxury brand is an advantage to appeal to European consumers, the company explained.

“We are always open to acquiring a good foreign brand. But we don’t have any pending case for now,” an Amore official told The Korea Herald.

The company declined to reveal the final bidding price, citing contract conditions.

Annick Goutal, named after a French pianist, is a highly upscale brand, which is favored mostly by U.S. and French consumers, the company said.

Its sales revenue last year amounted to about 20 billion won ($19 million).

“A growing number of mania groups are appearing here and other Asian countries such as China and Japan. The brand will also pave the way for us to expand perfume business in Asia,” said the official.

Currently in Korea, the perfume products are sold mostly through the Internet by individual importers.

Amore has already marketed its perfume brand Lorita Lempika since 1997, mainly targeting European consumers.

In a brand licensing with a French designer, the whole production is carried out only in France. Last year, the brand logged sales of 97.5 billion won.

The company expected that its two perfume brands will create a synergy effect in improving production efficiency.

The manufacturer of premium brands such as Sulhwasoo and Amore Pacific holds 1.2 percent of the global market share. The company, which is ranked 20th in the world, plans to enter the global top 10 cosmetics companies by 2015.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)