Jean-Guillaume Trottier has exited as CEO of Biologique Recherche, the French clinical skin care brand he led since January 2024, according to industry sources. A company spokeswoman had no comment Thursday.

Rupert Schmid and Pierre-Louis Delapalme are believed to have stepped back into operational roles, serving as interim co-CEOs. Both are also vice chairmen of the brand's supervisory board.

The Paris-based company, which runs a flagship institute on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, is also believed to have kicked off a sales process. The spokeswoman had no comment on that information either.

Why does the leadership change matter?

Trottier's mandate was to push the 40-plus-year-old brand into its next chapter. His brief: a return to what made Biologique Recherche disruptive at its market debut — personalization, biotechnology, innovation and a novel approach to retail.

That modernization push now falls to Schmid and Delapalme, two insiders who already sit on the supervisory board, at the exact moment the company is reportedly testing buyer appetite.

How big is the business today?

The growth numbers explain the timing. In 2018, one year before its last major investment, Biologique Recherche generated sales of about 40 million euros, according to industry sources. Today, the company is believed to generate approximately 150 million euros in annual sales.

The brand now sells in 74 countries.

Who owns the brand?

The current shareholder structure dates to October 2019, when three European family offices — the Van Rappard family, Christopher Descours and the Frère family — plus Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Nestlé's former CEO, signed on as long-term strategic partners.

Philippe Allouche, the company founder's son, was to continue as head of creation under that deal.

Why is a sale plausible now?

The reported process lands amid a spike in investor interest in clinical skin care, a rise in the number of aesthetic procedures and an intensified focus on wellness following the pandemic.

Biologique Recherche has kept expanding its retail footprint. Last month, the brand opened its first New York City flagship — its fourth U.S. location and its 11th globally. Over the last year, it added 40 new doors in the U.S. through debuts at Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom and others.

A sale at the reported 150-million-euro revenue mark would test how far investors' appetite for clinical skin care extends — and whether the 2019 investor group can exit at a multiple worthy of the brand's cult status.