ZURICH (Reuters) -Nestle has bought the main brands of vitamin and supplements maker The Bountiful Company for $5.75 billion, the world’s largest packaged food company said on Friday, the latest expansion of its health and nutrition business.
The KitKat chocolate bar maker bought Bountiful from KKR in a deal which covers the U.S. company’s Nature’s Bounty, Solgar, Osteo Bi-Flex and Puritan’s Pride brands. Nestle had flagged talks on Monday.
The deal, expected to be completed during the second half of this year, did not include the sports and active nutrition brands Pure Protein, Body Fortress and MET-Rx, as well as Dr.Organic and the Canadian over-the-counter business, which did not fit with the rest of Nestle Health Science business.
“This acquisition complements our existing health and nutrition portfolio in terms of brands and channels,” said Greg Behar, CEO of Nestle Health Science.
“It will establish Nestle Health Science as the industry leader in mass retail, specialty retail, e-commerce and direct-to-consumer in the U.S., while offering significant opportunities for geographic growth,” he added.
Nestle is paying 3.1 times the value of Bountiful’s sales for the brands, and a multiple of 16.8 times of their earnings before interest before tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).
The acquired brands had sales of $1.87 billion in the year to March 2021, with an EBITDA margin of 18.3%. The margin is expected to increase above the Nestle Group average once synergies are fully implemented by 2024, the Swiss company said.
(Reporting by John RevillEditing by Riham Alkousaa and Caroline Copley)
