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.
