L'Oreal acquires 100% of fashion retailer Style Nanda

L’Oreal has acquired a 100 per cent stake in Style Nanda, marking its first acquisition of a Korean company.
The exact transaction price for the deal was not disclosed. Last month, Style Nanda’s CEO and founder Kim So-hee initially planned to sell off 70 per cent of the company’s shares for $37 billion and keep a 30 per cent stake, but later changed her mind.
Kim started Style Nanda as an online fashion mall business in 2005, when she was 22. She sold clothes bought from the Dongdaemun fashion wholesale market. The company’s unique style and quirky marketing quickly boosted its business.
In 2009, the company launched its own cosmetics brand 3CE, which now accounts for most of its revenue with over 500 products which are popular in China.
Style Nanda raked in $152 million in sales last year, with 70 per cent coming from 3CE.
L’Oreal said it aims to expand sales of 3CE globally through the acquisition.
“Style Nanda encapsulates Korean style’s ambience, edge and creativity, which can appeal to Millennials not only in Asia but globally,” said Alexis Perakis-Valat, president of L’Oreal’s consumer production division.
“L’Oreal is proud to have the group’s first Korean beauty brand and be able to bring Korean beauty and style to the rest of the world,” said Yann Le Bourdon, president of L’Oreal Korea.