Coty's Out

Coty Inc. has withdrawn its nearly $10.7 billion offer for Avon Products.

The fragrance maker last night said it was moving on to pursue other opportunities as Avon didn’t come clean as to why it needed more time to respond to the proposal.

In a letter sent to Avon’s board, Bart Becht said that while Coty “waited patiently,” Avon's board has "had more than two months to consider whether to engage in discussions and permit us to conduct due diligence."

According to Coty, Avon sent “a two sentence email indicating, without explanation, that Avon's Board would need another week to consider our request.”

Last week, Coty increased the value of its proposal for the direct beauty products company to nearly $10.7 billion.

In the letter, Becht wrote: “Since receiving your email, we have reached out to Avon's Board, management and advisors to understand why additional time is needed, but we have received no explanation.I find it remarkable that since we made our revised proposal, and despite repeated requests over the last 24 hours, no one from Avon's Board or management has been willing to speak with us, including Fred Hassan, Andrea Jung and Sheri McCoy.

This morning, Avon Products, Inc. released a statement saying it “responded promptly" to Coty's May 9 letter by disclosing it on May 10 and indicating that its Board would consider the contents of the letter.

Avon further said, "Subsequently on May 13, Avon's Board said it would respond to Coty's letter within one week after considering it in conjunction with management and financial and legal advisors.”