Shaklee sold to private equity firms
equity firms for approximately $310 million from Yamanouchi
Pharmaceutical.
Ripplewood Holdings and Activated Holdings will own approximately 81 per cent of Shaklee's equity, with 19 per cent of the equity continuing to be publicly traded on the JASDAQ.
Shaklee's US business, which makes and sells nutritional supplements, and its Japanese supplements division had sales of Y30,659 million ($278.56m) in 2003 and and an operating profit of Y2860 million ($26m).
The consumer products division also sells personal care, air and water filtration and biodegradable household products and is one of the largest direct marketing companies in the world, with operations in the United States, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico and Canada.
Multi-level marketing has proved profitable for dietary supplement firms, with other US companies, such as Reliv International, reporting consistent sales growth in recent months. Shaklee products are sold through a network of more than 700,000 members.
"The company operates in a highly fragmented, $80 billion a year industry with enormous growth potential," said Roger Barnett, managing partner of Activated Holdings, who becomes Shaklee's new chairman and chief executive officer.
He added that the firm has "excellent expansion opportunities in both its existing markets as well as in new markets around the world, which we have already begun to actively explore".
Shaklee's product portfolio includes 45 patents.
