Nestlé Looks to Buy Maker of Nature’s Bounty Vitamins

•  Update 4/30/21: Sold to Nestlé for $5.75 billion
• It changed to its current name, the Bountiful Company, in January 2021.
  

Bountiful’s brands include Nature’s Bounty, Pure Protein, which makes protein bars, Osteo Bi-Flex joint-care supplements and Puritan’s Pride vitamins and supplements.

Nestlé SA is in talks to buy the maker of Nature’s Bounty vitamins for a price in the mid-single-digit billions, according to people familiar with the matter, as the Swiss food giant pushes further into nutritional offerings.

Nestlé could finalize a deal to buy the Bountiful Co. as soon as next week, some of the people said, though it isn’t guaranteed they will reach an agreement. Bountiful has been planning an initial public offering and could still opt for that path after all, or a different deal.

Bountiful is majority-owned by private-equity firm KKR & Co. In a filing for the IPO earlier this month, Bountiful called itself the largest pure-play nutrition company in North America and one of three largest in the world.

=Nestlé To Shed Skin Health Unit

• Company begins exploring options for division that owns Cetaphil and Proactiv.
• Nestle Skin Health was formed in 2014 when Nestle bought L’Oreal’s stake in their Galderma dermatology venture.

Looking to sharpen its focus on food, beverage and nutritional health products, Nestlé’s board is exploring strategic options for Nestlé Skin Health.

Nestlé Skin Health has a range of medical and consumer brands through three complementary business units, including Epiduo and Soolantra in prescription, Restylane and Azzalure in aesthetics, Cetaphil and Proactiv in Consumer Care.

According to the company, consumer skin care represents 35% of sales, aesthetics 34% and prescription 31%.

Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, Nestlé Skin Heath employs more than 5,000 people across 40 countries. With R&D capabilities and manufacturing facilities spread across the globe, Nestlé Skin Health had sales of around CHF 2.7 billion in 2017, or approximately $2.8 billion.

“Nestlé Skin Health has made significant progress under its new leadership team over the past two years. The company has developed convincing growth strategies for each of its business units and regained a competitive cost structure. Now is the right time to explore the best ownership structure for Nestlé Skin Health and to consider ways of taking it to the next level,” said Mark Schneider CEO.

The company said the review is expected to be completed by mid-2019.