Magic Holdings faces takeover bid from France's L'Oreal Group

France's L'Oreal Group is offering to take over China's leading facial mask brand for HK$6.30 (81 US cents) per share, L'Oreal and target Magic Holdings International Ltd said in a joint announcement on Thursday.

The price puts the value of the deal at about HK$6.5 billion, Xinhuanet.com reported on Friday.

L'Oreal's takeover plan is supported by Magic's board of directors. Six key shareholders, representing 62.3 percent of the company's equity, have already voted for L'Oreal's proposal.

"We have been following the development of Magic for some time," said Alexis Perakis-Valat, chief executive officer of L'Oreal China and group executive vice-president Asia-Pacific.

L'Oreal, the world's largest cosmetics and beauty company by sales, said its offer is awaiting approval from China's Ministry of Commerce.

Facial masks are a fast-growing product in China's beauty market with very promising prospects, said Ben Cavender, associate principal of the China Market Research Group.

Cavender said facial mask sales are growing more than 20 percent annually, compared with an average of 8 to 12 percent for the overall beauty market.

The acquisition will give L'Oreal a solid foothold in the facial mask segment as Magic Holdings controls about 26 percent of the market, he said.