The Clorox Company has agreed to acquire Nutranext Holdings, a portfolio company of WM Partners, for $700 million.
Nutranext is a vertically-integrated developer, manufacturer, and marketer of dietary and nutritional supplements (solid dose, softgels, gummies, and powders) that are sold through the retail, e-commerce and direct-to-consumer channels. Company-owned brands and products include, among others, Rainbow Light, a maker of multivitamin products (www.rainbowlight.com); Champion Performance, a manufacturer and marketer of sports nutrition products to professional athletes, bodybuilders, and fitness enthusiasts (www.championperformance.com); Natural Vitality, a manufacturer and marketer of magnesium-based dietary supplements (www.naturalvitality.com); and NeoCell, a maker and marketer of collagen-based skin care products (www.neocell.com).
In the calendar year 2017, Nutranext generated sales of approximately $200 million. The company was formerly known as Nature’s Products and changed its name to Wellnext in 2016 and again to Nutranext in December 2017. Nutranext is headquartered in Sunrise, FL (www.nutranext.net).
WM Partners’ strategy since its initial investment in Nutranext in 2015 was to create a scalable platform that would acquire and integrate leading brands in the highly fragmented US supplements market. Since 2015, Nutranext has nearly doubled its revenues and more than quadrupled its EBITDA. This growth was driven by a combination of organic growth and four add-on acquisitions including Neocell in August 2017, Natural Vitality in March 2016, Stop Aging Now in February 2016 and Vitamin Research Products in August 2015.
“We saw the growth potential in the $41 billion US supplements market and aimed to transform Nutranext into a leading player in the sector by consolidating the industry through strategic acquisitions and our operational value-add,” said Alejandro Weinstein, a Founder of WM Partners. “We are proud we have delivered on our strategy by capturing synergies and acquiring companies at single digit acquisition EBITDA multiples to build Nutranext into a scalable platform.”
During WM Partners’ term of ownership, Nutranext realized many manufacturing, operational and commercial synergies. Manufacturing was consolidated into Nutranext’s Florida facility, fulfillment was outsourced and consolidated, call centers and marketing offices were combined, and a state of the art gummy facility was built to capture growth in the gummy supplements market.
WM Partners is a lower-middle market private equity firm specialized in buyout investments in the health and wellness sectors. The firm is based in Ft. Lauderdale (www.wmplp.com).
The buy of Nutranext gives additional scale to Clorox’s current dietary supplements business and follows the company’s May 2016 acquisition of Renew Life, a leading brand in the dietary health (probiotics) segment. “Adding Nutranext to our portfolio is consistent with our strategy to accelerate growth through acquisitions of leading brands in fast-growing categories with attractive gross margins and a focus on health and wellness,” said Clorox Chairman and CEO Benno Dorer. “We’re looking forward to leveraging our proven capabilities in brand building, including innovation and digital marketing, as well as strong partnerships in retail and e-commerce to accelerate growth of the Nutranext brands.”
The Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX) is a multinational manufacturer and marketer of consumer and professional products with approximately 8,100 employees worldwide and fiscal year 2017 sales of $6 billion. More than 80 percent of the company’s sales are generated from brands that hold the No. 1 or No. 2 market share positions in their categories (www.TheCloroxCompany.com).
© 2018 Private Equity Professional | March 13, 2018