L'Oreal CEO says ready to buy out Nestle stake in 2014

L'Oreal will try to buy Nestle's 29.5% stake in the French cosmetics giant next year, French daily Les Echos reported, citing L'Oréal Chief Executive Jean-Paul Agon.

The newspaper quoted Agon as saying L'Oréal would have the means to buy the Swiss food group's holding from April 2014, when a 10-year mutual right of first refusal with L'Oréal's founding Bettencourt family expires, allowing Nestle to sell.

Agon told the paper the French group would be ready to buy Nestlé's holding, valued at around 22 billion euros ($29.09 billion), according to a front-page excerpt of Les Echos' Friday edition.

Nestle said last week it wanted to keep all options open regarding its L'Oréal stake.

The Bettencourt family said previously it had no plans to sell its 30.5% stake in L'Oréal, responding to speculation that the group's shareholder structure could change.

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