"This is L'Occitane's largest acquisition since listing and a major step forward in building a group of premium beauty brands," L'Occitane's chairman Reinold Geiger said in a statement late on Sunday.

The Hong Kong-listed firm said it would buy Elemis USA and Elemis Ltd from Steiner Leisure Ltd in a deal to be funded by cash on hand and bank borrowings. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019.

L'Occitane said the deal would help it strengthen its digital presence and skincare business in Britain and the United States, while ELEMIS could leverage on the company's geographical presence to expand into new markets in the Asia-Pacific region.

(Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Paul Tait)