Collapsed health and beauty chain The Body Shop owes its former owner Natura &Co £15m worth of debt in unpaid bills.
The health and beauty retailer owes Natura the money for items it supplied, with the bills dating from the period when Aurelius took over The Body Shop before it fell into administration, Retail Week reported.
Around 65% of The Body Shop’s supplies still come from the Avon factory based in Poland, which is owned by Natura, despite the retailer’s previous change in ownership.
An insider close to the situation claimed the cosmetics retailer accumulated its debt while under Aurelius.
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It said Natura could determine who purchases The Body Shop by threatening to remove product supply if the next owner chooses not to align with the company.
FRP Advistory, who is dealing with the administration, previously set an end of June deadline to complete the sale of The Body Shop.
Insiders close to the business advisory firm said it had been “encouraged” by the amount of interest the cosmetics company had recieved from bidders.
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