HONG KONGBEIJING Sept 5 Reuters Hong Konglisted skincare specialist L39;Occitane International SA shares fell almost 30 on Tuesday after its chairman and controlling shareholder said he decided against a deal to take the company private, curbing speculation of a European listing.

L39;Occitane39;s stock slid to HK19.70 in early trading after Chairman Reinold Geiger39;s investment holding company, L39;Occitane Groupe SA, decided not to go ahead with a takeprivate offer it last month said would be worth no less than HK26.00 a share.

L39;Occitane39;s market capitalisation declined to HK29 billion 3.70 billion from HK40.9 billion based on the stock39;s last closing price on Friday.

Sources had earlier told Reuters that Geiger had also been speaking to advisers about the possibility of relisting the skincare products group on a European exchange as soon as next year.

L39;Occitane Groupe SA owned 72.5 of the skincare firm at the end of May.

L39;Occitane listed in Hong Kong in 2010 and was one of the first Western companies to sell its primary shares in the Asian financial hub as it looked to boost its exposure to the rapidly growing Chinese market.

Austrian billionaire Geiger doubled sales at the beautystore chain over the last decade, with the retailer now having 3,000 outlets in 90 countries selling organic beauty products.

However, the firm lags behind peers in the cosmetic sector, including French firm L39;Oreal SA, in terms of its forward price to earnings ratio….