Supplement company buys assets of bankrupt e-business

NBTY, a US manufacturer of nutritional supplements, is to acquire certain assets of HealthCentral.com, the US online retailer that filed for bankruptcy in October.

The assets, acquired for $2.8 million (€3.13 million) in cash, include the customer list of the company's mail order operation, L&H Vitamins, and the customer list and URLs of Vitamins.com and WebRx.com. The acquisition was approved by bankruptcy court on December 6 and is expected to close within two weeks.

According to NBTY, the acquired operations had collective sales of approximately $15 million (€16.7 million) over the past 12 months and a combined customer list of approximately 1.8 million names.

"NBTY continues to make strategic acquisitions at advantageous terms,"​ stated NBTY chairman and chief executive officer, Scott Rudolph. "Our financial strength allows us to acquire companies that are unable to sustain operations in this current difficult environment. We continue to be at the forefront of the industry's consolidation."

According to NBTY the company currently has 500 Vitamin World and Nutrition Warehouse stores in the U.S., 423 Holland & Barrett stores in the U.K., and more than 6 million active customers in its Puritan.com e-commerce and catalogue business.