Group Increases Its Stake in Avon to 8.7%, May Be Ready to Buy More

A group of powerful investors, including oil fortune heir Gordon P. Getty, increased its stake Friday in Avon Products Inc. to 8.7% and extended its credit agreement with several banks.

Chartwell Associates, a limited partnership, said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it paid $14.5 million to purchase 401,000 more shares of Avon common stock between Dec. 1 and last Tuesday.

The stock, purchased for between $35.25 and $36.625 per share, increased Chartwell’s holdings to 4.9 million shares for a total of $166.3 million.

The SEC filing said the partnership has extended its credit agreement so it can continue borrowing until Jan. 31, 1990.

Avon, a New York-based cosmetics company, has twice rejected takeover proposals earlier this year and fended off takeover feelers from Dallas-based Mary Kay Corp., the privately held parent of door-to-door marketer Mary Kay Cosmetics.

A subsidiary of Mary Kay is among the general partners of Chartwell, which also include the Gordon P. Getty Family Trust and the Fisher real estate family of New York.