One other British success story is passing into American arms. Vitabiotics, the Perfectil and Pregnacare maker that grew from a single London laboratory into the nation’s largest nutritional vitamins firm, has been offered to US non-public fairness agency Bain Capital for £900million.
The deal ends 5 a long time of household possession and arms a considerable windfall to Dragons’ Den star Tej Lalvani, the group’s chief govt, and his father, Professor Kartar Lalvani, who based the enterprise in 1971.
For the broader SME group, it’s a story that cuts each methods: proof {that a} founder-led British agency might be constructed right into a world beater, and one other instance of that worth being cashed in by an abroad purchaser.
Vitabiotics isn’t any minor participant. Alongside Perfectil and Pregnacare it owns Wellman and Wellwoman, turns over near £200million a yr and exports to greater than 70 international locations, in keeping with Bain Capital, which is shopping for the UK’s primary vitamin firm. Its manufacturers have been fronted by names from mannequin David Gandy to presenters Tess Daly and Davina McCall.
Tej Lalvani, 52, who sat as an investor on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den between 2017 and 2021, mentioned: ‘This marks a defining second in Vitabiotics’ journey.
‘I’m extremely grateful to have had the chance to construct on my father’s imaginative and prescient to harness the facility of science and vitamin to enhance on a regular basis well being and, along with our distinctive group, assist rework Vitabiotics from a British household enterprise into one of many world’s most trusted vitamin and wellness corporations.’
His father, now 94, will tackle an honorary position as chairman emeritus underneath the brand new homeowners. The Lalvani household is regarded as value round £525million, in keeping with The Sunday Occasions Wealthy Checklist.
Boston-based Bain insisted the UK would stay ‘central’ to the enterprise, which is headquartered in London, and mentioned there can be ‘no rapid adjustments to day-to-day operations.’ Bain is probably greatest identified for its unsuccessful £530million tilt at insurance coverage mutual LV in 2021. Its curiosity in Vitabiotics surfaced initially of the yr, when non-public fairness large Blackstone was additionally reported to be circling.
For owner-managers weighing their very own future, the sale is a reside case research within the exit query each founder finally faces. Household succession preserves legacy however calls for cautious planning; a commerce or non-public fairness sale crystallises worth however often means letting go. Vitabiotics, with the 94-year-old founder nonetheless concerned, exhibits how lengthy that call might be deferred, and the way massive the prize can develop.
The backdrop is a takeover market tilting firmly in direction of overseas cash. The Vitabiotics sale lands amid a wave of offers during which US patrons are circling undervalued British companies, with sterling weak point and depressed valuations making UK property look low-cost to dollar-denominated bidders.
It’s a sample now seen throughout the market, with overseas non-public fairness closing in on British corporations weakened by the stock-market slide. Californian funding belief Prologis has this week received the backing of FTSE 100 warehouse large Segro for a £14billion strategy, the fifth and largest London-listed agency to just accept a takeover this yr after Intertek, Beazley, Schroders and DCC. EasyJet, Rotork, Mitie and Tate & Lyle are amongst others within the body.
The upside for entrepreneurs is evident sufficient: construct one thing useful and patrons will come. The nagging query for Britain is what’s left behind as soon as the cheque clears.
Jamie Younger
Jamie Younger is Senior Reporter at Enterprise Issues, masking SME finance, employment regulation and Westminster coverage since 2016. He has reported on each Price range and Autumn Assertion since 2018, helped make sense of the ‘covid period’ and the bounce-back mortgage scheme from launch by the fraud investigations, and broke the journal’s protection of the 2024 late-payment reforms. He joined Enterprise Issues straight from finishing his BA in Administration from Exeter College and is NCTJ-qualified. Attain him at jyoung@cbmeg.co.uk
