Source: LOHAS Weekly Newsletter
Published: Wednesday, December 01, 1999

OREM, UT—In potentially its second U.S. acquisition in four months, Netherlands-based Royal Numico (NUTV), Europe’s largest baby foods maker, says it will buy Enrich Intl., a nutritional and personal care products network marketer based here.

Royal Numico, with sales of about $3 billion annually, acquired the U.S.’s largest supplements maker and retailer, General Nutrition Cos. (GNC), in August. The Enrich acquisition is set to close in November. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Current controlling interest in Enrich is held by Hunter Capital, a Park City, UT, firm.

Enrich has about 150,000 distributors, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. The Tribune reports that the company’s sales have boomed in 1999 to $200 million after stalling at between $115 million and $130 million for several years. The cause for the boom is the company’s 1998 entry into Japan. Indeed, Japan has become Enrich’s largest market, the Tribune says.

Joining with Numico will provide Enrich with manufacturing and R&D resources “unmatched in the network marketing industry,” says Richard Bizzaro, CEO and chairman and former head of Weider Nutrition Intl. (WNI). In turn, the acquisition will give Numico a network marketing distribution channel for its products.

Structured similarly to Numico’s GNC acquisition, Enrich will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dutch company and will retain its current senior management.