Aurelius paid only £3.5m upfront for Body Shop

Aurelius had paid only £3.5 million for The Body Shop business before it collapsed earlier this year, a news report said on Tuesday.

While the agreed price to buy the beauty retailer from Natura &Co was £207 million, that price included a £90 million performance-linked sum to be paid over five years, The Telegraph has said.

The £90 million figure is unlikely to be paid given the chain’s administration filing, but it’s unclear when Aurelius will pay any more cash owed for buying the business.

The newspaper said that while the £207 million total, minus that £90 million, leaves £117 million, the sale price was the enterprise value of the business. This included debts taken on by Aurelius through the takeover. It means the headline figure was never going to be the amount the German private equity firm would pay to Natura.

Natura had paid the previous owner (L’Oréal) £880 million for The Body Shop in 2017 and is now one of the chain’s biggest creditors as its subsidiary is owed £12.8 million.

The Telegraph said that neither Aurelius nor Natura have commented on its story.