GUCCI-owner Kering paid 3.5 billion euros (S$5.17 billion) for acquiring high-end French fragrance label Creed in June, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Monday (Jul 10), citing people familiar with the matter.

The French luxury group made the acquisition since flagging intentions earlier in the year to create an in-house cosmetics business.

The all-cash deal to acquire 100 per cent of the fragrance house from funds controlled by BlackRock and by the company’s current chairman Javier Ferran is expected to close in the second half this year.

Part of the reason the details of the transaction were not provided earlier was that the companies did not want to broadcast Creed’s steep profit margins, according to the FT report.

Kering and Creed did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. REUTERS