L1 Retail to buy Holland & Barrett for £1.8bn

L1 Retail, the retail investment arm of LetterOne, has agreed to buy health and wellness retail chain Holland & Barrett from US private equity firm Carlyle and Nature's Bounty for £1.8bn.

Nuneaton-based Holland & Barrett was bought by Carlyle as part of its $3.8bn acquisition of Nature's Bounty in 2010.

The chain, which was originally founded in 1870, has more than 1,150 locations worldwide and a global employee base of more than 4,200 associates and staff. In 2016, its annual revenue exceeded £610m, marking 32 consecutive quarters of like-for-like growth in the business, underpinned by significant investments into new store openings, the company's online sales platform and click-and-collect retail capabilities and marketing campaigns.

L1 Retail managing partner Stephan DuCharme said: "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.

"We look forward to working with Peter Aldis, CEO, Holland & Barrett and his strong management team. 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 chief executive officer Peter Aldis said: "We are delighted to now be in partnership with the L1 Retail team and its advisory board of internationally-renowned retailers. We have upgraded much of our core store portfolio to concept stores to deliver additional in-store theatre and increased customer engagement. New products launched through our ethical sourcing programme have also been a key growth driver helping to underpin our substantial investment to gain presence across an increasingly global health and wellness market."