A thing of beauty is a joy for Royal Bank

ROYAL Bank of Scotland is set to enter the beauty business by snapping up Erno Laszlo, the US skincare brand made famous by 1960s film star Audrey Hepburn.

Charles Denton, who made millions of pounds by building up beauty products retailer Molton Brown, is working with RBS's private equity arm on the deal, which analysts estimate could be worth up to 30 million.

Erno Laszlo has been put up for sale by American buyout firm Fox Paine.

RBS refused to comment yesterday but if the acquisition goes through then it would be the latest in a string of deals for the bank's private equity arm. RBS is part of a consortium bidding for Park Holidays, the caravan park operator valued at 200m.

RBS Equity Finance's Special Opportunities Fund last month bought Whiteaway Laidlaw Bank from the Manchester Building Society for an undisclosed sum.

RBS raised the 1.1 billion fund, which operates independently of the group, in 2007.

Manchester BS had bought Whiteaway from Great Universal Stores in 2007. RBS installed Sir George Matthewson, its former chief executive, as chairman of Whiteaway and former HBOS chairman Sir Brian Ivory as a non-executive director.