But beyond the purchase price, executives involved in buying and running supplement companies are weighing what new owners can contribute to a business and whether they can preserve what made it successful.<\/p>\n
Those questions were featured in a panel at the Council for Responsible Nutrition\u2019s (CRN) Convergence 2026 conference, where Harvey Kamil, vice chairman of Piping Rock Health Products, questioned the long-term investment priorities of some private equity firms.<\/p>\n
David T. Thibodeau, managing director of Wellvest Capital, argued that growth-focused investors could provide smaller companies with capital and management expertise. Katie Butler, head of US Zarbee\u2019s and dietary supplements at Kenvue, discussed the importance of retaining an acquired brand\u2019s knowledge and capabilities.<\/p>\n
The discussion on private equity and consumer packaged goods (CPG) buyouts was moderated by CRN president and CEO Steve Mister.<\/p>\n
What buyers look for<\/p>\n
Rapid sales growth was not necessarily enough to make a supplement business an attractive acquisition, Thibodeau said, particularly when that growth depended on social media trends.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most difficult part is the recurring sale. It\u2019s developing a company with real staying power,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He questioned whether a brand that had grown rapidly through TikTok could command an attractive valuation without evidence of repeat purchases.<\/p>\n
\u201cA company that\u2019s born on TikTok, shoots up, and is trying to sell at that height will not sell,\u201d Thibodeau said.<\/p>\n
Butler drew a distinction between a successful product and a recognizable brand.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there\u2019s a big difference between building product equity and building brand equity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said emerging businesses sometimes pursued popular products without developing a coherent identity that consumers could recognize across categories.<\/p>\n
Kamil raised customer concentration as another consideration for potential buyers, noting the risks for companies heavily dependent on one or two major retailers or wholesalers.<\/p>\n
What investors bring to the business<\/p>\n
The executives differed over the benefits of private equity ownership.<\/p>\n
Kamil questioned whether firms planning to sell their holdings within five years would commit to expensive, long-term investments such as manufacturing facilities, particularly when acquisitions were financed with substantial debt.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want to buy the company and their time frame is five, maximum five years,\u201d Kamil said.<\/p>\n
Thibodeau said that criticism applied to some large leveraged-buyout firms but overlooked growth-capital investors that provided smaller companies with funding and management expertise.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a real need for that type of private equity player and there are quite a few of those,\u201d Thibodeau said.<\/p>\n
He cited Designs for Health as an example, saying private equity backing had supported facility expansion, regulatory compliance and management development.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat transaction was a very positive transaction for the company because it allows financial liquidity for the founder. But it also brought in expertise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Thibodeau added that a company\u2019s financing and management needs changed as it grew. Taking a business from $50 million to $200 million in revenue, he said, required different capabilities from expanding one from $200 million to $750 million.<\/p>\n
Keeping the business intact<\/p>\n
The panelists also discussed the challenges facing buyers after an acquisition.<\/p>\n
Kamil said supplement businesses could be difficult for large CPG companies to manage because of their extensive product ranges, pricing structures and operational complexity.<\/p>\n
Thibodeau warned that acquirers sometimes disrupted the practices that had contributed to a brand\u2019s success.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen example after example of a larger strategic purchasing a company and they lose what we call the soul of the brand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Butler said the operations team responsible for Zarbee\u2019s before its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson remained with the business and continued to provide expertise.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes these small businesses know how to go to market very differently, and a big conglomerate CPG may go to market in a different way,\u201d Butler said.<\/p>\n
She said that knowledge could also benefit other brands within an acquirer\u2019s portfolio.<\/p>\n
Kamil noted that retailers could become concerned when a supplier changed ownership, particularly if they feared cost-cutting would affect inventory, staffing or deliveries.<\/p>\n
Regulatory compliance was another consideration for buyers, Thibodeau said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t have your regulatory house in order, your deal will not get done with private equity or with the strategic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But beyond the purchase price, executives involved in buying and running supplement companies are weighing what new owners…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":932899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[49,48,84,395],"class_list":["post-932898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-nutrition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=932898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/932899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=932898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=932898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}