Nestle to offload mainstream vitamin brands for $1 billion

LONDON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Nestle will sell its mainstream vitamin brands to private equity firm Yellow Wood Partners for $1 billion, it said on Tuesday, as CEO Philipp Navratil tightens the company's strategic focus.  

Navratil, who took the top job at Nestle exactly a year ago, has reduced Nestle's exposure to ice cream and water brands through joint ventures, slimming the Swiss conglomerate's portfolio in search of growth, a tactic similar to rival consumer goods firms Unilever and Reckitt. 

The sale of Nestle's mainstream vitamins, minerals and supplements business includes seven brands — Nature's Bounty, Osteo Bi-Flex, Ester-C, Gard, Nuun, Puritan's Pride and Sisu — and its U.S. private-label supplements business, Nestle said in a statement. 

Those brands generated $1.2 billion in sales in 2025, Nestle said.

Nestle acquired several of those brands -- including Nature's Bounty -- in a $5.75 billion deal with The Bountiful Company in 2021.

"We are focusing our resources where we have the strongest competitive advantage," Navratil said, adding that the mainstream vitamins, minerals and supplements business "requires a different approach under dedicated ownership." 

Other consumer goods firms have made similar moves into health and wellness, with U.S.-based Procter & Gamble last month agreeing to buy supplements maker Thorne for $3.8 billion. 

Nestle will hold onto Solgar, a premium brand it acquired in that transaction.

The Nestle deal, which is expected to close in the first half of 2027, is Yellow Wood's sixth acquisition from major consumer companies since 2019. Those include the acquisition of lip balm brand ChapStick from Haleon <HLN.L>, and Unilever's <ULVR.L> non-core beauty and personal care division Elida Beauty. 

Yellow Wood Partner Dana Schmaltz said that operating the acquired brands as a standalone entity will create leverage for faster growth and enhanced innovation. 

(Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru and Alexander Marrow in London; Editing by Shailesh Kuber, Joyjeet Das and David Gaffen)