UPDATE: Nestlé Expands in Vitamins With $5.75bn Nature’s Bounty Deal

Nestlé SA has agreed to buy the main brands of vitamins maker Bountiful Co. for $5.75bn, in the Swiss food giant’s latest move to capitalise on growing demand for minerals and nutritional supplements.

The world’s biggest packaged-food company said Friday the deal would add brands including Nature’s Bounty, Solgar, Osteo Bi-Flex and Puritan’s Pride to its offering. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Nestlé was in talks to buy the company, which is majority-owned by private-equity firm KKR & Co.

In recent years, consumer-goods giants have scrambled to add health and wellness brands as shoppers spend more on self-care and products meant to stave off sickness or slow aging.

Nestlé Chief Executive Mark Schneider was plucked by the company in 2016 straight from the healthcare industry in part to accelerate that push. Last year Mr. Schneider said he wanted Nestlé to become “a health and nutrition powerhouse,” in part through acquisitions.

Shortly after he took the reins in 2017, Nestlé acquired Canadian vitamin maker Atrium Innovations Inc. for $2.3bn. More recently, the company bought Aimmune Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical business that has won approval for the first treatment for peanut allergies, in a deal worth $2.6bn.

Source: Wall Street Journal

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