Avon Files for Bankruptcy in US Amid Mounting Talc Lawsuits

The owner of cosmetics giant Avon has filed for bankruptcy in an effort to resolve mass lawsuits alleging talc powder in its products contained cancer-causing asbestos. Avon Products Inc. (API), a U.S.-based non-operational holding company of the Avon beauty brand, filed for voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on Aug. 12, according to a press release. While API has not sold products in the United States since it divested its North American business in 2016, it remains the holding company of the brand’s non-U.S. operating entities. According to the press release, Brazil-based Natura, which bought Avon in 2020, has agreed to buy the equity interests in Avon’s non-U.S. operations for $125 million in a credit bid that will be subject to a court-supervised auction process....