Numico completes Rexall sale
US vitamin maker Rexall Sundown, leaving it with no shareholders'
equity, said the firm on Friday.
Dutch nutrition company Royal Numico has completed the sale of its US vitamin maker Rexall Sundown, leaving it with no shareholders' equity, said the firm on Friday.
The sale, to US rival NBTY for $250 million in cash, results in "a write-off, the level of which will be determined by the closing balance sheet of Rexall Sundown on the date of completion. Partly in view of this write-off, Numico expects its shareholders' equity to be close to zero," the debt-ridden firm said.
It added however that the changes in equity will not have any impact on its operations, access to funding or stock exchange listing. It plans to strengthen its shareholders' equity through retained earnings.
Europe's largest baby formula maker is selling the US unit to concentrate on high-margin growth in infant nutrition. It bought Rexall in 2000 for $1.8 billion. It has also recently agreed to sell Unicity, a US-based wholesale marketing operation, and continues to divest non-core activites such as the Mococa dairy activities in Brazil last week.
Last month Numico announced it had secured a €1.25 billion loan to refinance its debt.
