Bodycare has been rescued from administration by the former boss of cosmetics brand The Body Shop.
An investment group led by ex-Molton Brown and The Body Shop CEO Charles Denton is set to take control of Bodycare, with its first set of shop reopenings planned for early next year.
The deal includes the beauty retailer’s brand and intellectual property, although the financial details of the acquisition have not been confirmed.
The businessman is set to relaunch between 30 to 50 shops during the initial stage of reopenings, which is focussed on the Northwest. Several hundred staff members are anticipated to be brought back to the retailer.
The group is set to work with landlords, suppliers and former workers to support a responsible and cost-disciplined reset of the company, which aims to re-establish Bodycare as a provider of affordable personal care and beauty products.
Denton said: “Bodycare is much-loved and trusted – it matters deeply to the communities it serves.
“We now have the mandate to bring stores and jobs back by transforming Bodycare’s rich legacy into a modern, scalable and profitable business.”
Interpath managing director and joint administrator Nick Holloway said: “We are pleased to hand Bodycare to an experienced new owner with a clear plan to restart operations. We wish the business every success in the future.”
The news comes after Bodycare fell into administration on 5 September, with the brand drafting in Interpath Advisory to manage its insolvency process.
Later that month, it was reported that the business was set to shut all of its remaining stores, with hundreds of staff facing redundancy, after administrators said that a rescue deal was unlikely.
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