NESTLÉ NEARING PURCHASE OF VITAMIN MAKER

Nestlé, the world’s largest food company, is in discussions to buy Bountiful Co., maker of protein bars, Nature’s Bounty and Puritan’s Pride vitamins, and Osteo Bi-Flex joint-care supplements, among other nutrition-related items.
Nestlé, with about $9.4 billion in cash on hand at 2020’s end and a market value of almost $340 billion, is moving aggressively into the market for nutritional offerings as consumers show growing interest in wellness products.
The deal values Bountiful at $5 billion to $7 billion, insiders told the Wall Street Journal.
Bountiful is majority-owned by KKR & Co., a New York private equity firm.
The deal is not certain; Bountiful also is contemplating an initial public stock offering.
Bountiful claims to be the largest pure-play nutrition company in North America and one of the world’s three largest such businesses.
TRENDPOST: As we have noted, merger and acquisition activity continues to accelerate (especially as money is cheap to borrow), and the “Bigs” are accelerating domination across all market sectors.