Estee Lauder to acquire full ownership of Forest Essentials
Estee Lauder has signed an agreement to acquire the remaining 51% of Forest Essentials, which would make the Indian luxury Ayurvedic beauty brand fully theirs after 18 years of partnership.
Forest Essentials, founded by Mira Kulkarni (founding year not stated in the source), is loved for its natural skincare and haircare and has about 200 freestanding stores.
Estee Lauder's plans for Forest Essentials
India's luxury beauty market is booming—worth $1 billion in 2024 and expected to hit $4 billion by 2035.
Right now, high-end brands make up just a small slice of total spending, so there's a lot of room to grow.
Estee Lauder plans to keep Forest Essentials's leadership in place and expand the brand into the Middle East and UK, showing how global brands are betting big on India's homegrown favorites.