Yahoo Finance Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman in £1.7bn swoop on Holland & Barrett
Holland & Barrett, the health foods and vitamins chain, has been snapped up in a £1.7bn takeover by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman.
The move by Mr Fridman is his first in the retail sector. He is better known in the UK for his dispute with the British Government over the forced sale of his North Sea oil and gas assets and his $200m (£157m) investment in Uber.
The Russian oligarch also had a bitter, high-profile tussle with BP over TNK BP, which led to TNK-BP's boss Bob Dudley fleeing Russia in 2008 after a campaign of what he called "sustained harassment".
Since then Mr Fridman has diversified and set up L1 Technology, L1 Health and most recently L1 Retail, which has $3bn to invest in retail. It is understood that the venture has its eyes on food retail opportunities in Europe for its next investment.
The swoop on Holland & Barrett by Mr Fridman is the first deal by his new L1 vehicle. However, he has recruited a roster of senior retail veterans to run his investments including former Argos boss John Walden, Dunhumby founder Clive Humby, and the former chief executive of Lidl Karl Heinz Holland.
Holland & Barrett, Europe's largest health food chain, was put up for sale by US private equity firm Carlyle earlier this year and had also attracted attention from rivals KKR, Sycamore, Bain and Advent. Last week it was reported that the Singaporean owner of Superdrug and Savers, AS Watson, was weighing a £1bn-plus bid.
Carlyle, which bought Holland & Barrett seven years ago and has pushed ahead with an international roll-out, had originally wanted to sell the business along with Nature's Bounty, an American vitamins and health business it took private in 2010, to a single buyer. However, sources said that it had become clear that Holland & Barrett could fetch an attractive price on its own.
Holland & Barrett has more than 1,150 shops in 11 different countries including Kuwait, Malta, Singapore and China, where it has 34 franchise stores. Last year sales exceeded £610m following 32 consecutive quarters of growth, according to Carlyle.
Peter Aldis, chief executive of Holland & Barrett, will remain with the business. In an interview last year with The Sunday Telegraph Mr Aldis revealed his mission to transform Holland & Barrett's reputation from one that was popular with "the sandals and beans brigade with wacky alternatives" into a trusted retailer.
L1 Retail managing partner Stephan DuCharme said: "We believe that the company is well positioned to benefit from structural growth in the growing £10bn health and wellness market and has multiple levers for long-term growth and value creation.”
“Holland & Barrett is a clear market leader in the UK health and wellness retail market, with attractive growth positions in other European and international markets, and growing online presence, with a leading customer loyalty programme and 10 million active cardholders," Mr DuCharme said.
Carlyle's co-head of Europe, Marco De Benedetti, said: "It has been a privilege to work with Peter Aldis and his talented management team over the past seven years. We have invested heavily in the Holland & Barrett brand, built an innovation pipeline, opened over 300 new stores, built an industry leading omni-channel platform, and expanded the business internationally."
