Charlotte Tilbury proved to be a wrinkle too deep in the merger talks between the Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. and Puig, resulting in the latter two calling them off despite being close to signing on the dotted line months ago.
The two companies late Thursday said they have terminated discussions regarding a potential business combination.
One source told WWD that the deal was already complicated, but when it leaked in the Spanish press and the two companies had to publicly confirm that they were in talks on March 23, the negotiations became tougher.
A big part of that was that Charlotte Tilbury, the founder of the makeup brand owned by Puig, hired Rothschild as an adviser and began renegotiating her contract with Puig, according to sources.
The contract negotiations were first reported by the Spanish economic and business publication Expansión earlier this week, which wrote that Tilbury was looking to renegotiate her contract with Puig on terms more favorable to her and potentially exit the company she founded before the pre-determined date of 2031.
