April 9 (Reuters) - Blackstone Inc ( BX ) is closing in

on a deal to take Hong Kong-listed skincare company L'Occitane

International SA private, Bloomberg News reported on

Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The $5.55-billion French cosmetics company halted trading in

its Hong Kong shares earlier in the day ahead of a likely

announcement spelling out details on any takeover plans.

The U.S. private equity giant may join hands with

L'Occitane's billionaire owner Reinold Geiger, according to the

report.

Blackstone has been exploring a deal with L'Occitane, but

the structure of the deal is not immediately clear, a person

with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, requesting anonymity

as the information was private.

Blackstone declined to comment, while L'Occitane could not

be immediately reached.

Austrian billionaire Geiger, the controlling shareholder of

L'Occitane, had decided against a deal to take the company

private last September, triggering a drag in the shares.

The buyout offer came from Geiger's investment holding

company, L'Occitane Groupe SA, when Hong Kong emerged as an

epicentre of buyout deals and several firms from the West were

looking to boost exposure in the rapidly growing Chinese market.

L'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 at the time.

Bloomberg reported in February that Blackstone was

considering a bid for L'Occitane, sending the French firm's

shares surging to their highest levels in two years.