The Nature’s Bounty Co., a manufacturer, marketer and distributor of health and wellness products, has been acquired by KKR from The Carlyle Group which had acquired the company in 2010. Carlyle is maintaining a minority equity interest in the company under KKR control. Equity capital for the transaction was primarily provided from KKR’s Americas XII Fund, which closed in March 2017 with $13.9 billion of capital.
Nature’s Bounty is a manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of vitamins, nutritional supplements, sports & active nutrition and beauty products. The company distributes its products to supermarkets, drug store chains, mass merchandisers, club stores, and health food stores as well as selling direct-to-consumer. Company owned brand names include Nature’s Bounty, Sundown Naturals, Solgar, Osteo Bi-Flex, MET-Rx, Pure Protein, Body Fortress, Puritan’s Pride and Organic Doctor, among others. Nature’s Bounty is headquartered on Long Island in Ronkonkoma, NY (www.NaturesBountyCo.com).
Nature’s Bounty was founded in 1971 by Arthur Rudolph primarily as a mail order, catalog-based company. Carlyle acquired the company in 2010 at an enterprise value of $3.8 billion. In June 2017, Carlyle sold Holland & Barrett, a subsidiary of Nature’s Bounty and one of Europe’s largest health-food retail chains, to Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman for $2.3 billion.
Current financials for Nature’s Bounty were not available to Private Equity Professional but in FY2015 the company reported total revenues of approximately $3 billion, with $1.9 billion coming from the company’s consumer products group, $890 million from Holland & Barrett, and $250 million from its direct-to-consumer group.
With the buy of Nature’s Bounty now closed, Paul Sturman, a consumer healthcare executive will assume the role of chief executive officer. Mr. Sturman succeeds Steve Cahillane who yesterday became the new chief executive officer of cereal maker Kellogg. “Paul is a very well regarded leader in the consumer healthcare space, having grown and transformed several companies and brands over the years,” said Nate Taylor, Head of Consumer Retail at KKR. “He’s a great fit to lead Nature’s Bounty in its next stage of growth.”
Mr. Sturman has more than 30 years of experience in the consumer healthcare sector with Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Warner-Lambert. He spent six years leading Pfizer’s $3+ billion consumer healthcare business (formerly Wyeth), one of the largest over-the-counter healthcare products companies in the world with brands such as Advil, Centrum, Chapstick, Nexium, Robitussin, and Emergen-C. Earlier in his career he was the president of Johnson & Johnson’s North American consumer health care business which had more than 30 brands including Listerine, Band-Aid, Stayfree, Monistat, Rogaine, Neosporin, and Visine.
“I am honored to join the team at Nature’s Bounty and to lead this impressive platform,” said Mr. Sturman. “There are tremendous opportunities to grow Nature’s Bounty’s footprint in this rapidly expanding global wellness industry, and I look forward to working with the many talented people at Nature’s Bounty to provide the company’s valued customers with the world’s best health and wellness offerings.”
KKR (NYSE:KKR) makes private equity, fixed income and other investments in companies in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The firm has $148 billion in assets under management. KKR was founded in 1976 and in addition to its New York headquarters has offices in 19 cities around the world (www.kkr.com).
The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) invests in buyouts, growth capital, real estate and leveraged finance in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. Carlyle has expertise in various industries, including: aerospace, defense & government services, consumer & retail, energy, financial services, healthcare, industrial, real estate, technology & business services, telecommunications & media and transportation. The firm employs approximately 1,500 people in 31 offices across six continents and is based in Washington, DC (www.carlyle.com).
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | September 29, 2017
