American Company Acquires Femi Otedola’s Favourite Fashion Brand For $2.8 Billion

American cosmetics multinational, Estee Lauder, has confirmed that it is buying American luxury fashion and cosmetics brand, Tom Ford.

Tom Ford is the preferred fashion brand of Nigerian billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, who tags the brand in almost all his Instagram posts.

Otedola’s daughters – Tolani, DJ Cuppy, and Temi – bought him a custom-made Tom Ford suit on his 60-birthday. The suit had a note personally signed by the designer himself.

The acquisition values Tom Ford, a longtime partner of Estee Lauder, at $2.8 billion, CNN reports.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year and will be completed through a combination of cash, debt and deferred payments that will be due in 2025.

Estee Lauder and Tom Ford have been partners for more than 15 years, launching the Tom Ford Beauty brand together in 2006.

Tom Ford, designer and founder of his eponymous label, will remain with the brand when the deal is closed next year as the “creative visionary”.

“As an owned brand, this strategic acquisition will unlock new opportunities and fortify our growth plans for Tom Ford Beauty,” Estée Lauder Companies President and CEO Fabrizio Freda said in a statement.

The company revealed that it expected annual sales of Tom Ford’s cosmetics brand, Tom Ford beauty, $1 billion over the next few years.

Ford also revealed his joy at the acquisition saying he “could not be happier with this acquisition as The Estée Lauder Companies is the ideal home for the brand.

“They have been an extraordinary partner from the first day of my creation of the company and I am thrilled to see them become the luxury stewards in this next chapter,” Ford added.

Tom Ford founded his eponymous fashion brand in 2005 after working as creative director at two other luxury fashion houses, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent (YSL). The brand produces ready-to-wear and custom made clothes as well as footwear, accessories and handbags.

The brand also produces cosmetics products under its beauty brand, Tom Ford Beauty, fragrances and eyewear.

Estee Lauder was founded in 1946 by American businesswoman Estee Lauder and her husband Joseph, it is a manufacturer and marketer of makeup, skincare, fragrance and haircare products.

It is the second largest cosmetics company in the world after French cosmetics and personal care company, L’Oreal and it owns 23 other cosmetics, fragrance and haircare brands including its eponymous cosmetics brand, Estee Lauder, MAC Cosmetics and Clinique.