Online health and beauty owner The Hut Group has acquired one of its competitors Salu Beauty ahead of its anticipated flotation in 2017, according to the times.

The newly purchased business is a high end US and Australian retailer that trades under www.skincarestore.com.au and www.skinstore.com from Walgreens Boots Alliance.

Salu Beauty will join The Hut Group’s multiple specialist trading platforms including Zayyi, MyProtein, Coggles and IWantOneofThose.com.

The acquisition will continue to build The Hut’s esteemed position in the beauty sector. The group currently has over 800 brands across 29 websites in 166 countries in Europe, the US and Australia.

The price of the deal has not been revealed.