Ripplewood Holdings LLC and Activated Holdings LLC announced last week their acquisition of Shaklee’s worldwide business for about $310 million from Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.
Activated and Ripplewood will own about 81 percent of Shaklee’s equity. The rest will continue to be publicly traded.
Roger Barnett, managing partner of Activated Holdings, was named Shaklee’s new chairman/CEO. Barnett’s family owns Activated, which controls $2 billion in assets. Activated principals have experience managing businesses in international consumer marketing as well as the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and direct marketing segments.
Shaklee, formed in 1956, manufactures nutritional, personal care, air and water filtration and household products. The Pleasanton, CA, company has operations in the United States, Canada, Japan, Malaysia and Mexico.
Ripplewood manages about $10 billion of capital, focusing on investments in the United States and Japan. Ripplewood’s U.S. holdings include Asbury Automotive, WRC Media Inc. and Direct Holdings Worldwide, which is the parent company of Lillian Vernon Corp. and Time Life Inc.
Shaklee’s products are sold by independent distributors and via a toll-free number and its Web site, www.shaklee.com. Shaklee members receive discounts on merchandise. Its annual membership fee is $19.95.
