L'Oreal explores unloading chemical-related liabilities

NEW YORK: L'Oreal has engaged restructuring advisers to explore options for rising US legal liabilities linked to its use of talc and other chemical ingredients in some of its cosmetic products, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The cosmetics maker's US unit is working with restructuring counsel Weil Gotshal & Manges and investment bank Ducera Partners to address lawsuits from individuals alleging the talc products caused illness, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

L'Oreal said in its latest half-year report that about 760 US proceedings over the alleged presence of asbestos particles in some talc-containing cosmetic products were pending as of June 30, up from about 620 at the end of 2025, and that it strongly contests the claims.

The Journal said L'Oreal is considering moving tort liabilities into a separate corporate entity to unload them through a sale to an outside investor, allowing the company to separate its exposure from its operating businesses.

As an option to address the claims outside Chapter 11, L'Oreal's advisers are exploring a sale similar to Honeywell's divestiture last year of certain asbestos liabilities to corporate liability acquisition platform Delticus, the Journal said.

L'Oreal, Weil Gotshal & Manges and Ducera did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

More broadly, talc litigation has cost Johnson & Johnson billions of dollars in a legal fight lasting more than a decade and has prompted several companies to try to resolve claims in bankruptcy court.

In July, J&J said it would pay an estimated US$5.5 billion to resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging its baby powder and other talc products cause ovarian cancer. It had earlier filed for three bankruptcies through a shell-company subsidiary in an effort to settle the cases, though each ended in dismissal.

Avon Products, a US-based holding company of the Avon beauty brand, started Chapter 11 proceedings in 2024 to address its debt and talc liabilities.

L'Oreal is also facing thousands of lawsuits alleging its hair relaxer products could cause cancer in women. Arizona sued L'Oreal and its US subsidiary in September, alleging the cosmetics company hid evidence that the products could cause cancer.

L'Oreal USA has previously said the company is confident in the safety of its products and believes those claims are without legal or scientific merit.