Blue Pool Capital to team up with Investindustrial, GP Investments in a bid for L’Oreal’s The Body Shop

European private equity firm, Investindustrial has invited the investment vehicle of Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma to submit a joint bid of more than 800 million euros ($900 million) for L’Oreal’s The Body Shop, sources revealed.

Hong Kong-based Blue Pool Capital has been asked to team up with Investindustrial and Brazil’s GP Investments, one of Latin America’s largest private equity firms, in making a bid for the British-based cosmetics retailer, the sources said.

According to sources, "European private equity investor CVC Capital Partners is also planning to submit a rival offer ahead of a June 7 deadline for final bids. Whereas, another buyout firm, Advent, has decided to drop out of the contest.

L’Oreal’s advisor, Lazard, was originally hoping for a valuation close to 1 billion euros for the business, but such a price was challenging given the chain’s recent struggles and poor performance.

The Body Shop has also drawn interest from a handful of industry players including Brazilian make-up firm, Natura Cosmeticos, which took part in the initial stages of the auction.

A spokesperson for Natura said, "The company is constantly looking for business opportunities and it is indeed participating in several of the phases of the process for The Body Shop transaction."