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In May 2022, L’Oréal was all but expected to acquire Swedish niche fragrance brand Byredo. And Byredo did fall under new ownership that month, just not into the hands of L’Oréal — Spanish conglomerate Puig instead snapped up a majority stake in the perfume pioneer for a reported €1 billion ($1.07 billion).
Despite losing out on Byredo, L’Oréal has not given up on the niche fragrance market: The conglomerate kicked off 2025 with a series of major investments in the space. In early February, L’Oréal announced it had acquired a minority stake in Amouage, the luxury Omani fragrance brand established in 1983. The following week, Bold, L’Oréal’s venture capital arm, announced an investment in Borntostandout, a Korean fragrance house founded in 2022. Those deals followed the French conglomerate’s 2024 investment in Chinese perfume brand To Summer through its Chinese investment firm, Shanghai Meicifang Investment Co.
By investing in the likes of Amouage, L’Oréal is recognizing consumers’ growing appetite for fragrance brands built on craftsmanship and authentic branding. But whether or not L’Oréal can court savvy consumers amid stiff competition from Puig and Estée Lauder-owned fragrance brands remains to be seen.
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