The financial vision, another way of visiting Vitafoods…

This year is my 15th consecutive year at Vitafoods Europe (which has become a great franchise with other events in Asia and India, organized by Informa Markets , the listed British multinational publishing and events company, with an entreprise value of ...15.6Bn€). Perhaps a little less interesting than previous versions, no fund movements like previous years (collagen, postbiotics, insects, CBD, gummies, mushrooms, probiotics on previous editions) even if we can see some interesting developments coming on the the use of algae and the rise of ingredients with clinical support (and therefore branded).

You can spend time meeting exhibitors in each aisle, in the traditional way, to find a product, a study, a galenic, a particular know-how... but there are also other ways of seeing this event, which I summarize below in a very summary manner.

Like a large number of sectors of activity, the food supplement market has been completely transformed, particularly over the last 5-10 years, with the increasing appetite of financiers for a sector in permanent growth in all markets. in the world. While Private Equity Funds had until around 2015 an essentially Pharma/Biotech investment angle, some began to investigate the nutra sector which had until then been under the radar. Ardian , Investindustrial , CAPZA , 21 Invest , Motion Equity Partners , Turenne Groupe , and more and more of them are interested in the growth (and values) of this market.

In 2024, let's be clear, there is no longer a single Vitafoods aisle comprising independent players, including when you browse the national pavilions (Spain, Poland, France, and the same is true for the Chinese or Indian pavilions). , even if this is less known today, with funds also active in these countries We have done with Corporate Finance International India and Raj Shroff the last event of Vitafoods India, we also find an increasingly high proportion of Private Equity involved. interesting to nutra market in India.

It is not a question of positioning oneself on the positive or negative side of massive investments on the part of Financial Institution, but the fact is Healthcare lab, CDMOs, Ingredients manufacturers/developpers or distributors, packaging players, or even external services, all sub-sectors of food supplements markets are currently under the radar of Private Equity funds, Family Office or similar financial vehicules.

Let's go back a week and take a virtual tour, as visitors. At the entrance, you see for example the Polaris booth, which carried out a primary LBO in 2023 with Cerea Partners and Seventure Partners in particular. You pass this first line and you come across the excellent Italians of Fine Foods & Pharmaceuticals N.T.M. S.p.A. which are listed in Milan, or the Dutch of Corbion also belonging to private equity players. In the 3rd level, you will see the incredible phyto portfolio of the Spanish Euromed Pharma , which belongs, in the same way as the French Arkopharma , to the German Dermapharm Holding SE for example.

You go down the 1st level to go to the central plateau, you obviously come across the main sponsor for years KSM-66 Ashwagandha , which everyone thinks is Indian, but which is in fact an American company supported by funds. The excellent number 1 Nutra Laboratories in Europe, Havea , is located right next door, with the support of the BC Partners and Cerea Partners funds since 2022. Havea's neighbor, Glanbia is listed with strong support from ClearwayCapitalfund. The 2nd level includes some of the bigger giants we all know ( 帝斯曼公司 , IFF , Balchem Corporation , 龙沙 ), but even the smaller ones like the lovely Spanish stand of MARNYS - Martínez Nieto, S.A. , now benefit from the support of the excellent Spanish fund Magnum Capital Industrial Partners . The walk is a little long perhaps, let's accelerate to the 3rd line with the biggest deal in terms of nutra with the CDMO Biofarma Group Biofarma which now benefits from the support of Ardian or at the other end Aminolabs Nutrition still with Waterland Private Equity .

In the services sector, Cencora and ProductLife Group , the two European leaders, are both backed by financiers.

We must also not forget the appetite of "Corporates", that is to say private players, to be active in M&A, which gives fierce competition when a process is launched and explains in particular the surge in valuations on some unique targets. Corporates are also capable of offering higher valuations than certain funds (see for example the process on Adare Biome in 2023 acquired by 帝斯曼公司 compared to numerous funds).

However, there are still many independent companies, sometimes family-owned, which have for the moment chosen organic, standalone development. These companies are constantly contacted, either by direct funds, by competitors, or by M&A advisors. Europe is the most innovative market for Nutra, far ahead of the United States (unlike Biotech for example) which also explains why the profile of buyers is not only European, but also American, Indian or Asian (we have at Corporate Finance International numerous Japanese and Chinese clients who have given us mandates for buy-side in this sector). Thus, an Italian CDMO with real expertise (for example S.I.I.T. S.r.l. from Andrea Costa , or Sochim International S.p.A. with the excellent Davide Mazza in soft gel caps) are receiving many requests every month, because (i) the perfect know know of he European market , (ii) the in-house specific technologies and (iii) an excellent portfolio of international customers.

For funds interested in the sector, there remain opportunities, in a market which continues to grow (and which will continue to grow considering the general delisting of pharmaceutical specialties and the active role of consumers for their health), in the B2C part (Healthcare lab, DNVB) but also in B2B (CDMOs obviously, but not only, ingredient suppliers are becoming very important, packaging and equipment players are still underestimated while their value added is enormous in a market where true innovation becomes difficult to achieve, or even service experts (clinical, regulatory, quality, galenic development).

Even if you can visit Vitafoods with a more "financial" eye, you still have to continue to enjoy testing IRATI Group multilayer gummies, Starpharma Sp. z o.o. lollipops, Aurora Intelligent Nutrition 's protein bars, probiotics. from AB-BIOTICS or PROBIOTICAL S.P.A. , postbiocs from AB Biotek , chocolate products from Milsing , natural vitamin D3 from Nutriearth or insect-based products from Divaks . Looking forward to seeing Vitafoods 2025 in Barcelona