In Brief: NBTY
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
NBTY: Is in negotiations to buy U.K.-based Holland & Barrett retail vitamin and health food chain from Gehe AG, Germany's second largest drug wholesaler, Bohemia, N.Y.-based NBTY announces July 28. An agreement in principle has not been reached. Gehe AG acquired Holland & Barrett's parent company, Lloyds Chemists, in early 1997. If completed, the deal would make NBTY the largest vitamin and health food retailer in the U.K. Founded in 1920, Holland & Barrett operates 410 stores throughout the U.K. and had FY 1996 sales (ended Sept. 30) of about $149 mil., a 17.5% increase from the previous fiscal year. NBTY has two Vitamin World factory outlet stores and a distribution center in the U.K. The company described its entry into the British market as "encouraging," noting that the area is "very fertile for vitamin sales." The proposed acquisition is part of NBTY's "strategic plan" to expand its retail presence, the firm notes; NBTY operates 101 Vitamin World stores in the U.S...