Just over three months after signing a binding commitment with Natura 's shareholders to acquire a stake in the cosmetics company, the American private equity firm Advent is beginning to fulfill that agreement toward the goals established between the two parties.
Natura announced on the morning of Thursday, July 2nd, that the Lotus Multistrategy Private Equity Investment Fund, managed by Advent, now holds 90,676,500 shares of the company, equivalent to 6.6% of its share capital.
In a relevant fact, the company also informed that the fund maintains an additional position of 1.4% of the capital through derivative financial operations (TRS), which translates to 19,288,800 shares.
According to the terms announced in March of this year, the agreement stipulates that Advent will acquire a stake equivalent to a minimum of 8% and a maximum of 10% of Natura's capital, in a transaction expected to take place within six months, at a target average price of R$ 9.75 per share.
As part of the commitment, once the minimum stake is reached, the management company may appoint two additional members to the company's Board of Directors, as well as participate in strategic operational committees.
The transaction with Advent is contingent upon approval at a general meeting to waive the public takeover bid (OPA), a requirement for the fund managed by the asset manager to increase its stake without having to launch a public offering.
This investment by the management company comes in the wake of a restructuring of the company's governance, which includes a new shareholders' agreement and foresees the transition of founders Luiz Seabra , Guilherme Leal , and Pedro Passos from the board to a new advisory board, focused on preserving the group's culture.
In parallel with the trio's new role, the Board of Directors was restructured with new members and is now chaired by Alessandro Carlucci, an executive who previously served as CEO of the company between 2005 and 2014. He has held a seat on the board since April 2025.
Among the new names that have taken seats on the board are nominees from the founding trio, such as Guilherme Passos, son of Pedro Passos; Pedro Villares, from Maraé Investimentos, Guilherme Leal's family office; and Luiz Guerra, from Luiz Seabra's family office.
All these moves, in turn, were preceded by a broad strategy to simplify the group, which, among other steps, involved divesting from companies acquired when the group harbored the ambition to consolidate itself as a global cosmetics giant.
After putting an end to that dream, Natura divested assets such as The Body Shop and Aesop, as well as Avon operations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Central America. It then focused on its business in Latin America and the integration of Avon in the region.
This transition, however, was not smooth. For more than three years, the group became accustomed to dealing with the market's questioning and distrust, given the delay in showing the results of this new roadmap, which was reflected in declines in its shares, especially with each quarterly report.
In the most recent figures from this trajectory, Natura recorded a net loss of R$ 444.5 million in the first quarter of 2026, reversing the net profit of R$ 96.7 million recorded in the same period a year earlier.
Three months earlier, however, the group had given signs that the worst was behind it. In its fourth-quarter and consolidated 2025 financial results, Natura reported indicators such as an annual profit of R$ 486 million and leverage of 1.31 times, compared to 7.83 times three years earlier, when it began its restructuring.
Now, with the new role of the founding trio, a renewed board, and the entry of Advent, the expectation is that the company will definitively turn this page. And the arrival of the American investment firm is a sign that the conditions for this to happen seem to be in place.
In this regard, it is noteworthy that Advent traditionally invests in privately held companies, only to later take them public and realize profits. Within the cosmetics sector itself, the investment firm holds a majority stake in Skala, which merged with Lola from Rio in June 2025.
The firm has also established positions in listed companies, such as Fleury and Yduqs. But this is not its usual strategy. And the fact is that, by making room for Natura in its portfolio, the asset manager is probably seeing potential appreciation in the group's shares, especially in this new phase.
On Thursday, around 11 am, Natura's shares were showing a slight increase of 0.12%, trading at R$ 8.59. By 2026, the shares have accumulated an appreciation of 15.3%, valuing the company at R$ 11.8 billion.
