New Chapter
Cincinnati-based consumer products giant Procter & Gamble made its first foray into the supplement market with the acquisition of Vermont-based New Chapter for an undisclosed sum.
"This started when we were looking to raise capital to grow the business,” New Chapter's chairman Elizabeth Bankowski told us, “and it emerged that there were companies out there including P&G that had an interest in taking a majority share. We assessed all of the interest out there from a strategic and financial perspective, but P&G offered a premium bid.”
Strategic
Speaking with NutraIngredients-USA at the time of the acquisition, American Botanical Council (ABC) executive director Mark Blumenthal said: "There's probably no better evidence of mainstream consumer acceptance of the benefits of herbal dietary supplements than P&G's acquisition of New Chapter.
"Obviously, P&G has done a significant amount of due diligence in researching not only New Chapter's history and product quality but also in determining the future growth potential for New Chapter's herbal and other dietary supplement products.
“A company like P&G doesn't make such a strategic move into a new area like dietary supplements without a considerable level of research."