Another British success story is passing into American hands. Vitabiotics, the Perfectil and Pregnacare maker that grew from a single London laboratory into the country’s largest vitamins company, has been sold to US private equity firm Bain Capital for £900million.
The deal ends five decades of family ownership and hands a substantial windfall to Dragons’ Den star Tej Lalvani, the group’s chief executive, and his father, Professor Kartar Lalvani, who founded the business in 1971.
For the wider SME community, it is a story that cuts both ways: proof that a founder-led British firm can be built into a world beater, and another example of that value being cashed in by an overseas buyer.
Vitabiotics is no minor player. Alongside Perfectil and Pregnacare it owns Wellman and Wellwoman, turns over close to £200million a year and exports to more than 70 countries, according to Bain Capital, which is buying the UK’s number one vitamin company. Its brands have been fronted by names from model David Gandy to presenters Tess Daly and Davina McCall.
Tej Lalvani, 52, who sat as an investor on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den between 2017 and 2021, said: ‘This marks a defining moment in Vitabiotics’ journey.
‘I’m incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to build on my father’s vision to harness the power of science and nutrition to improve everyday health and, together with our exceptional team, help transform Vitabiotics from a British family business into one of the world’s most trusted vitamin and wellness companies.’
His father, now 94, will take on an honorary role as chairman emeritus under the new owners. The Lalvani family is thought to be worth around £525million, according to The Sunday Times Rich List.
Boston-based Bain insisted the UK would remain ‘central’ to the business, which is headquartered in London, and said there would be ‘no immediate changes to day-to-day operations.’ Bain is perhaps best known for its unsuccessful £530million tilt at insurance mutual LV in 2021. Its interest in Vitabiotics surfaced at the start of the year, when private equity giant Blackstone was also reported to be circling.
For owner-managers weighing their own future, the sale is a live case study in the exit question every founder eventually faces. Family succession preserves legacy but demands careful planning; a trade or private equity sale crystallises value but usually means letting go. Vitabiotics, with the 94-year-old founder still involved, shows how long that decision can be deferred, and how large the prize can grow.
The backdrop is a takeover market tilting firmly towards foreign money. The Vitabiotics sale lands amid a wave of deals in which US buyers are circling undervalued British firms, with sterling weakness and depressed valuations making UK assets look cheap to dollar-denominated bidders.
It is a pattern now visible across the market, with foreign private equity closing in on British companies weakened by the stock-market slide. Californian investment trust Prologis has this week won the backing of FTSE 100 warehouse giant Segro for a £14billion approach, the fifth and biggest London-listed firm to accept a takeover this year after Intertek, Beazley, Schroders and DCC. EasyJet, Rotork, Mitie and Tate & Lyle are among others in the frame.
The upside for entrepreneurs is clear enough: build something valuable and buyers will come. The nagging question for Britain is what is left behind once the cheque clears.
