Private equity firm MacArthur Beauty has agreed to buy the assets of Uoma Beauty, MacArthur Beauty Managing Partner Todd Boren confirmed to Retail Dive in an email.
“We saw an opportunity to save this brand and turn it around,” Boren said. “Bringing Uoma, with its wide range of shades, and beautiful packaging, back to our loyal consumers.”
Uoma Beauty has faced challenges in recent months. In late November, the brand was served a notice from the U.K. government, warning that it could be struck off the register and dissolved within two months. The U.K. government’s website shows that the company’s accounts are overdue. According to a Dec. 8 filing, the compulsory strike-off action has been suspended.
Uoma Beauty’s founder, Sharon Chuter, in May announced she stepped down as CEO and left the brand’s board of directors. “I have relinquished all operational involvement in Uoma Beauty,” Chuter wrote in a May post on her personal Instagram page. “I’m dropping the suit and stepping away from the boardroom for good.”
But Chuter may return to the brand after all. The founder reportedly intends to challenge the asset sale, according to a Business of Fashion report citing an email sent to The Business of Beauty. Chuter said the situation, which she learned of after it had been completed, is “a cautionary tale of the realities of what founders have to suffer quietly with investors and why we are seeing more and more exodus of founders and consequently a decline in innovation,” according to the Business of Fashion’s report.
MacArthur Beauty said it has “had no contact with Ms. Chuter.” Emails sent to Uoma Beauty’s press email bounced back.
