Arcadia Consumer Healthcare (formerly Kramer Laboratories), a portfolio company of Avista Capital Partners, has completed the buy of the US rights to the Kaopectate brand from Sanofi.
Kaopectate is sold at all major retailers throughout the US and is used to treat mild diarrhea, indigestion, nausea, and stomach ulcers and is available in both liquid and caplets form.
Arcadia Consumer Healthcare is a marketer of branded, over-the-counter products in the hair care, foot care and specialty cough segments of the consumer healthcare market. Arcadia’s brands include Nizoral, a therapeutic dandruff shampoo; Fungi-Nail and Opti-Nail, used to stop toe-fungus and repair skin; Safetussin, used for cough relief; and HC Max Hongo Cura, a popular Hispanic anti-fungal brand used to treat athletes foot. The company is led by CEO Michael DeBiasi and is headquartered near New York City in Bridgewater, New Jersey.
“The addition of Kaopectate to our product portfolio represents a perfect opportunity to carry on Arcadia’s tradition of providing consumers with simple, efficacious, and high-quality solutions,” said Mr. DeBiasi. “We look forward to continuing Arcadia’s already strong double-digit growth by driving breakthrough performance on Kaopectate through marketing investment and innovation, while helping millions of consumers who suffer from diarrhea and upset stomach.”
Avista Capital partnered with Dana Holdings to acquire Kramer Laboratories in May 2018 and a month later quickly completed the buy of Nizoral from Janssen Pharmaceutica, a unit of Johnson & Johnson. In October 2019, Kramer Laboratories changed its name to Arcadia Consumer Healthcare.
New York City-based Avista, with over $6 billion of capital under management, makes control or influential minority investments in growth-oriented healthcare businesses with a specific interest in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, outsourced pharmaceutical services, distribution, and consumer-driven healthcare.
Dana Holdings, Avista’s co-investor in Arcadia Consumer Healthcare, is an independent sponsor that makes minority and control investments in companies active in the consumer healthcare sector. The firm was founded in 2004 and is based in Princeton, New Jersey.
Paris-headquartered Sanofi, the seller of the Kaopectate brand, is a multinational pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and markets pharmaceutical drugs principally in the prescription market, but the firm also develops over-the-counter medications.
© 2020 Private Equity Professional | March 24, 2020
