The former owner of The Body Shop Natura & Co has written to the retailer’s new owner Aurelius over unpaid bonuses worth up to £3m owed to former employees.

The beauty giant’s legal counsel has contacted the private equity owner to enquire why previous staff have not received the long-term incentive grants they were due in their severance, Retail Week reported.

The former employees of The Body Shop were owed their share of Natura’s long-term incentive scheme at the end of January after the group offloaded the struggling business to Aurelius last year.

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It is understood that employee bonuses were transferred to new owner Aurelius as part of the conditions of the £207m transaction.

The funds, managed by Morgan Stanley on behalf of Natura, have disappeared from the app staff used to track the scheme.

More than 20 former Body Shop employees are owed bonuses collectively worth between £2m and £3m.

Last week, it emerged that Aurelius had sold parts of the beauty retailer’s Europe and Asia business.

The Body Shop signed an agreement with “an international family office to sell its business in most of mainland Europe and in parts of Asia” as it moves towards “delivering a strong turnaround strategy”

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