LG Household may bid for Elizabeth Arden

LG Household & Health Care, a cosmetics and beverages company, is considering a bid for fragrance maker Elizabeth Arden as it looks to expand locally and overseas by buying rivals.

The company, which also makes household cleaning goods, is looking at “big deals” locally and overseas, including one for Elizabeth Arden, Lee In-ick, a spokesman for the LG Group unit, said yesterday

LG Household would become a global luxury beauty company with the Elizabeth Arden deal, which may be valued at more than 1 trillion won ($963 million) including goodwill, Maeil Business Newspaper reported, citing an investment bank official it didn’t identify.

The unit of LG Household plans to ally with institutional investors in Korea to initially take a controlling stake in Miramar, Florida-based Elizabeth Arden before buying out the remaining stakes, Maeil reported.

LG Household rose 3.13 percent to 465,000 won in Seoul trading, after climbing to as high as 50,300 won.

The maker of WHOO Hwanyugo skin care products also sells perfumes, fabric deodorant and toothpaste, according to the company website.

Elizabeth Arden makes celebrity-branded scents for names such as Justin Bieber and Britney Spears.

The U.S. cosmetics company, which also owns fragrance brands including Halston, Guerlain and Nautica, in January cut its fiscal 2013 profit forecast, citing slower holiday sales. Profit for the year will be $2.30 to $2.50 a share, compared with a previous projection of $2.55 to $2.70 a share.

The company, which got about 33 percent of revenue from overseas, also pointed to international weakness, including China.

Bloomberg