The first L’Occitane boutique opened in 1978 in Volx, a village in Provence.
Now L’Occitane has shops in 90 countries, in North America, Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia; with 170 stores in the USA. At the launch of its IPO in 2010, the company declared that its products were sold in over 80 countries within over 1,500 retail locations; it had 753 L’Occitane Stores. In the year ended 31 March 2009, it generated sales of €537.3 million;. It planned over 650 store openings with the capital raised.
In 1994, Austrian businessman Reinold Geiger bought a 33% stake in the group. Through a series of capital increases, Geiger became the majority shareholder in 1996. Geiger, as the new chairman, asked Baussan to return as creative director and lead product development. The company’s new focus on marketing strategy paved the way for international expansion. In the late 1990s, the company changed its name to ‘L’Occitane en Provence’, to strengthen the connection with the company’s roots and because the term ‘Provence’ had more meaning to an international audience. On 20 April 2001, Clarins became a financial investor in the company through subscription to approximately 5.18% of the company’s shares and €11,433,750 convertible debenture loan. On 22 February 2005, Clarins further invested €16,525,580 in convertible debentures. When the debentures were converted, Clarins held 23.33% of the shares. The management executed a leveraged buyout in May 2007 following which Reinold Geiger’s stake rose from 31.9% to 48.7%, and Clarins’ stake was diluted to 10.0%.
In 2013 the company employed 6,600 people in the world and created a new brand L’Occitane as Brésil, focused on products from Brazil.
In 2010, the company became listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In March 2010, the listing committee of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange approved its plan for a $400–$600 million initial public share offering of L’Occitane International S.A., underwritten by CLSA, HSBC, and UBS which the company had originally planned in 2008, but postponed because of the financial crisis. The company stated that two-thirds of the proceeds would be used to finance store openings. China Investment Corporation invested US$50 million in the company’s IPO as the cornerstone investor (for approximately 1.9% of the shares).Following the listing of shares in L’Occitane International SA, L’Occitane Groupe SA retains 75% of the shareholding of the company; shares owned by Geiger, Clarins and other shareholders are indirect.
