The Hut Group (“THG”, or the “Group”), one of the world’s largest online Health & Beauty retailers and brand owners, announces the acquisition of ESPA, a world-renowned leader in spas and skincare excellence, from affiliates of KSL Capital Partners, LLC (“KSL”).

Established in 1993, ESPA is the choice of the world’s leading spas and skincare experts. ESPA products and treatments are sold in over 700 spas across 50 countries in the finest hotels including ESPA Life at The Corinthia London, top destinations of Ritz-Carlton, Peninsula and One&Only.

Each spa offers a unique reflection of its environment, ultimately providing a collection of bespoke, opulent destination spas that offer wellbeing experiences for skin, body and mind. Last year, ESPA-trained beauty therapists performed over 5 million treatments globally.

ESPA products are also sold in luxury retail outlets such as John Lewis, Liberty London and Harvey Nichols, and direct to consumers on espaskincare.com.
Working with the best skincare experts, using only the highest quality, purest natural ingredients at their optimal levels, ESPA create unique Tri-Active™ blends of plant actives, marine actives and essential oils to develop the most effective, natural products and treatments. All new product development and manufacturing is done at ESPA’s own facility in the UK.

The investment represents another strategic move for THG as it continues to expand its Beauty offering and international reach. THG is already Europe’s largest retailer of premium beauty including MAC, Bobbi Brown, Nars and Lancôme products through Lookfantastic.com, and also owns a host of luxury Beauty brands including Mio Skincare, Mama Mio, Grow Gorgeous and GLOSSYBOX, and now ESPA. In addition to its presence across the Beauty industry, THG also owns numerous brands across the Health sector, including the world’s largest online Health brand, Myprotein.

Matthew Moulding, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Hut Group, said: “ESPA is an exciting addition to The Hut Group’s growing portfolio of beauty brands. Synonymous with luxury, its products are sold in the most prestigious spas and retailers around the globe. We intend to invest substantially in the ESPA brand, especially in manufacturing capabilities, to develop the brand into a true global leader in its area. Our investment in acquiring the ESPA brand further supports our ambition of becoming the world’s largest online retailer of Health & Beauty products by the end of the year.”

Susan Harmsworth, Founder of ESPA, said: “I am delighted with this acquisition which paves the way to an exciting next chapter in our journey. I am truly confident that The Hut Group has the passion and expertise to extend ESPA’s holistic philosophy which has been at the heart of our products, spas and treatments for twenty-five years. With spas in over 50 countries, this partnership enables us to reach even more customers all over the world.”

The Hut Group was advised by CMS (Katie Nagy De Nagybaczon), KPMG (John Moth) and Deloitte (David OLeary). KSL was advised by Baylor Klein (Tim Leach), Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (Derek Baird) and Deloitte (Gurm Dhillon).

For more information, please contact:

Viki Tahmasebi, Group Head of PR, The Hut Group: viki.tahmasebi@thg.com, 07966 028340