Global private equity investors Goldman Sachs, L Catterton and TPG are in early stages of discussion to acquire a minority stake in Mumbai-based nutraceutical ingredients player OmniActive Health Technologies.
The funds are in talks to invest about $50-70 million in the company, two people aware of the development said. The management had hired investment bank Investec to find a new investor.
The deal, expected to value the company at $300-350 million, will see part exit of existing investor Everstone Capital as well as stake dilution by promoter Sanjaya Mariwala. Everstone holds about 25% stake in the company.
Spokespersons for TPG and Goldman declined to comment. Calls, messages and an email to OmniActive managing director Mariwala and a mail to an L Catterton spokesperson did not elicit any response till press time Tuesday.
OmniActive, which has a strong presence in the US market, offers a range of ingredients for customers in the dietary supplement, food and beverage space. Its core products include carotenoids, plant extracts and specialty functional ingredients.
In January 2017, Everstone had invested $35 million in OmniActive Health and shortly after Everstone investment, OmniActive acquired a controlling stake in Bengaluru-based fragrance and specialty chemicals maker Indfrag.
Part of the Mumbai-based Kanji Moorarji Group, OmniActive was founded by Mariwala who had earlier set up Kancor Ingredients, a producer of natural food colours, ingredients, essential oils, spice oils and mints and menthols. The group also owned VKL Seasoning.
The company registered revenue of ?515 crore in fiscal 2019 against ?476 crore the year before. Net profit was ?22 crore, compared with ?11 crore in FY18.
France-based flavours and fragrance firm V Mane Fils had acquired Kancor in 2014, while Swiss fragrance and flavour company Firmenich had acquired VKL Seasoning from Indian private equity fund True North last year.
Established in 2004, OmniActive has two business units. The main vertical focuses on branded products for wellness & weight management, such as Lutemax, Capsimax and CurcuWin. The Specialty Botanicals & Extracts (SBE) vertical is engaged in the manufacturing of ingredients and botanical extracts. OmniActive supplies ingredients to companies such as Amway and GNC.
In the nutraceutical ingredients space, OmniActive competes with domestic players such as Arjuna Natural Extracts, Sami Labs and global companies like DSM and BASF.
L Catterton (formerly L Capital), the $15-billion private equity firm founded by luxury-goods maker LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, has investments in companies such as personalised nutrition startup Vitamin Packs and US-based Nutraceutical Wellness.
The global nutrition supplement market is expected to cross $200 billion by 2022, with China likely to hold about 20% market share.
Source: Economic Times