Two premium online beauty retailers have agreed to be acquired in mammoth deals.

The Hut Group (THG PLCS) has agreed to acquire Cult Beauty Limited in a £275m deal. Affording strategic benefits to THG, the acquisition will see the company add 200 new brands, 1.7m highly engaged customers and 1.6m Instagram followers to its offering.

Matthew Moulding, Executive Chairman and CEO of THG, says:“Cult Beauty is frequently the partner of choice for emerging indie brands due to its personalised, content-led approach and enthusiastic consumer base who are continually seeking new, innovative solutions to complement their beauty routines. 

“Cult Beauty’s first-to-market reputation makes the brand an exciting fit for our THG Beauty division. When retailing brands to consumers THG Beauty will run with two unique fascias within our main continents: THG will principally service customers within North America via our Dermstore and Lookfantastic brands, while in the UK, Europe, Asia and the Rest of the World the key brands will be Lookfantastic and Cult Beauty.”

Meanwhile, LVMH-owned French cosmetics giant Sephora has agreed to buy online beauty retailer Feelunique in a deal that values the company at £132m.

Online retailers including ASOS and Zalando were said to be considering making bids for the beauty e-tailer before the deal with Sephora was announced last month.