Nestle slashes stake in L'Oreal by selling shares worth $10 billion

Nestlé cut its stake in L'Oreal to just over 20 per cent from 23 per cent by selling shares worth about $10 billion.

Nestle sold 22.3 million shares of Clichy, France-based L’Oreal, for €400 each. L’Oreal will cancel the repurchased shares. Nestlé has been a major shareholder of the company since 1974, when L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt entrusted nearly half her stake to the Nescafe maker for fear it would be nationalised if Socialists came to power.

L'Oreal shares have since yielded 11 per cent returns on an annualised basis to Nestle, excluding dividends. The stake Nestlé is selling will be bought back by L'Oreal, increasing the Bettencourt Meyers family holding to 34.7 per cent from around 33 per cent. "Good business for both," said broker Jefferies.