Russian billionaire buys retail group
Health food group Holland & Barrett has been bought by a Russian billionaire in a £1.77bn deal.
Mikhail Fridman, who is ranked as Russia’s second-richest man by Forbes has bought the retailer through his investment fund L1 Retail.
The retailer was part of The Nature’s Bounty Co, a global group owned by private equity giant The Carlyle Group.
Holland & Barrett has more than 1,150 stores in 16 countries, of which around half are in the UK, and in 2016 achieved sales of £610m. It recently expanded its Nuneaton headquarters to enable it to double its capacity to up to 600 people.
Peter Aldis, chief executive of Holland & Barrett, said: “Carlyle has been a great partner for Holland & Barrett over the last few years, investing in the brand, our people, and next generation technology, which has driven our growth. We look forward to building on this track record as we enter the next chapter with L1 Retail.”
Holland & Barrett has enjoyed 32 quarters of consecutive like-for-like growth and its new owners believe the business is well positioned to continue to grow.
L1 Retail’s managing partner Stephan DuCharme said: “Holland & Barrett is a clear market leader in the UK health and wellness retail market, with attractive growth positions in other European and international markets, and growing online presence, with a leading customer loyalty programme and 10m active cardholders.
“We believe that the company is well positioned to benefit from structural growth in the growing £10bn health and wellness market and has multiple levers for long term growth and value creation.”
Holland & Barrett, which was founded in 1870, has added more than 300 stores during Carlyle Group’s seven years’ ownership and now employs 4,200 people. Its growth is being driven by an improved shopping experience, new products and international expansion.
“We have upgraded much of our core store portfolio to concept stores to deliver additional in-store theatre and increased customer engagement,” added Aldis.
“New products launched through our ethical sourcing programme have also been a key growth driver helping to underpin our substantial investment to gain presence across an increasingly global Health and Wellness market. We are particularly proud that our international business last year received the Queen’s Award for International Trade.”
The transaction is expected to close by September, subject to regulatory approvals.
