WM Partners Agrees To Sell Nutranext To Clorox

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., March 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- WM Partners, LP ("WM Partners") a Ft. Lauderdale-based private equity firm focused on investing in lower-middle market companies in the health and wellness sector, today announced that Nutranext Holdings, LLC, a portfolio company owned by an affiliate of WM Partners, has entered into an agreement to sell Nutranext, LLC and its subsidiaries (collectively, "Nutranext"), a vertically-integrated developer, manufacturer, and marketer of leading dietary and nutritional supplements in the retail, e-commerce and direct-to-consumer ("DTC") channels, to The Clorox Company ("Clorox"). In calendar year 2017, Nutranext generated sales of about $200 million. Clorox will pay $700 million to acquire Nutranext, with the purchase price representing about 3.5 times calendar year 2017 sales. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Since WM Partners' involvement in 2015, Nutranext successfully grew into a fully vertically-integrated national nutraceutical company with its own manufacturing and leading natural supplements brands. Under WM Partners' direction, Nutranext nearly doubled its revenues and more than quadrupled its EBITDA. This growth was driven by a combination of operational organic growth and four strategic add-on acquisitions of leading nutritional supplements brands in fast-growing categories in the retail and DTC channels that complemented Nutranext's existing portfolio. WM Partners' vision with Nutranext was to create a scalable platform that would be attractive to a potential buyer by consolidating the highly fragmented U.S. supplements market by acquiring and integrating leading brands. With these acquisitions, Nutranext expanded its national footprint with offices across the U.S., diversified its product mix into other leading categories such as collagen, anti-stress and sleep products, optimized its distribution capabilities across all channels, and strengthened the team.

With the support of WM Partners' team, significant manufacturing, operational and commercial synergies were captured. Manufacturing was consolidated into Nutranext's Florida facility, fulfillment was outsourced and consolidated into strategically located 3PLs, call centers and marketing offices were fused resulting in higher sales efficiencies, and a state of the art gummy facility was built to capture the growth in gummy supplements, among other operational initiatives. Nutranext continued to focus on higher margin opportunities, particularly "premiumizing" its proprietary retail and DTC brands with new value-added line extensions and new product development, price increases and rationalization of non-core SKUs. Moreover, Nutranext's DTC portfolio of brands was consolidated under the same digital platform to achieve significant improvements in monitoring customer acquisition investments and reducing customer acquisition costs.

"We saw the growth potential in the $41 billion U.S. supplements market¹ and aimed to transform Nutranext into a leading player in the sector by consolidating the industry through strategic acquisitions and our operational value-add," said Alejandro Weinstein, a Founder of WM Partners. "We are proud we have delivered on our strategy by capturing synergies and acquiring companies at single digit acquisition EBITDA multiples to build Nutranext into a scalable platform. We are pleased that Nutranext has landed a great new home with Clorox which will further accelerate the growth of the Nutranext portfolio of brands." 

"We are excited Nutranext is joining the Clorox family, a company distinguished by its innovation and like-minded mission of developing products that impact the lives of consumers every day," said Jose Minski, CEO of Nutranext and a Founder of WM Partners. "We are confident that with Clorox's global capabilities, Nutranext is well positioned for its next phase of growth."

About WM Partners, LP
WM Partners is a lower-middle market private equity firm specialized in buyout investments in the health and wellness sectors. WM Partners seeks to acquire small and medium size businesses with attractive growth prospects and generate sustainable, long-term value through its operational expertise in the health and wellness sectors, and strategic business approach working in collaboration with experienced management teams. WM Partners is based in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. More information about WM Partners is available at www.wmplp.com.

About Nutranext
Headquartered in Sunrise, Florida, the Nutranext family of brands delivers research-backed nutritional supplements for every consumer life stage. Anchor brands within the Nutranext portfolio include a GMP-certified manufacturer with 30 years of leadership in supplement manufacturing, Rainbow Light®, Champion Performance®, Natural Vitality®, and NeoCell® among many other leading brands. Guided by three generations of family heritage, Nutranext is committed to the highest standards of corporate social responsibility, including product quality and purity testing, sustainability practices, and corporate giving programs, to help foster a vibrant state of health in families everywhere. In December 2017, Nutranext announced its new corporate name, formerly known as Wellnext. For more information, visit http://www.nutranext.net.

¹ Nutrition Business Journal.

For inquiries, contact:

Vanessa Gabela
WM Partners, LP
[email protected]
+1 754-260-6507

SOURCE WM Partners

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