Nestle to buy Quebec vitamin maker Atrium

LONDON Nestle is buying Montreal vitamin maker Atrium Innovations for US$2.3 billion, expanding its presence in consumer health care as it seeks to offset weakness in packaged foods.

The world’s largest packaged food company said on Tuesday it will buy the maker of vitamins, probiotics and meal replacements from a group of investors led by Permira Funds.

About 80 per cent of Atrium’s sales come from the United States, meaning there is still room to buy businesses elsewhere, such as the vitamins unit being sold by Germany’s Merck, which has a large presence in emerging markets and is also being looked at by Nestle.

“We continue to look for opportunities in things that make sense in very disciplined fashion,” said Greg Behar, head of Nestle Health Science, the division that will house Atrium Innovations.

Nestle Health Science already sells nutritional products for people with specific medical conditions and has been at the forefront of Nestle’s ambition to become a “nutrition, health and wellness” company as packaged food sales slow, amid changing tastes.

Atrium has seven factories in the United States, Canada, Europe and Argentina. Its biggest brand is Garden of Life supplements.

The purchase of Atrium is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018.