Court approves The Body Shop Canada sale, about 100 to lose jobs as some stores close

By Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press on December 13, 2024.

The exterior of a Body Shop store is seen in Toronto on Monday, March 4, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

TORONTO – An Ontario court has given The Body Shop Canada the approval it needs to sell the majority of its business to a private equity firm.

In a hearing, Justice Peter Osborne allowed the cosmetics retailer to proceed with a sale to an affiliate of Markham, Ont.-based Serruya Private Equity Inc.

Court documents show 59 properties owned by The Body Shop Canada will be purchased by Serruya. The Body Shop Canada had 72 stores earlier in the year and lawyers acting on its behalf say those not acquired will be liquidated after the deal closes Monday.

By the time the transaction closes, documents say about 600 employees, including 100 seasonal workers, will be issued termination notices, but roughly 500 will be rehired by the new owner.

Serruya Private Equity Inc. is led by the co-founder of Yogen Früz and has invested in St. Louis Bar and Grill, Second Cup and Swensen’s.

The Body Shop has been up for sale since July. It started shopping itself around after filing for creditor protection in March, when it closed 33 stores and blamed its parent company for stripping it of cash and pushed it into debt.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 13, 2024.

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