L’Oréal plans to acquire Australian luxury beauty brand Aesop from Natura & Co. in third quarter, subject to regulatory approvals, marking its biggest acquisition to date.

The Brazilian beauty giant reported 8.8% growth in The Body Shop sales in the fiscal 2019 first half, driven by strong gains in the UK and other key markets, offsetting the effect of 37 store closures in the past year as part of Natura’s transformation plan for the business. Meanwhile, incoming acquiree Avon is seeing better productivity, though sales continued to fall in the firm’s second quarter.

Preemadonna and InsitU Skincare are among the first five startups selected for L’Oreal and Founders Factory’s accelerator program, announced in May 2016. The French beauty juggernaut and London-based mentorship firm teamed up to nurture fledgling businesses in the beauty tech field, with the former aspiring to “deeply connect itself to a global ecosystem of world-class startups and entrepreneurs.”