Herbalife Will get Bid Whitney & Co

Herbalife Will get Bid From Whitney, Biggest Investor (Update5)

By Vivek Shankar - Feb 2, 2007 19:51 EST

February. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Herbalife Ltd., which sells nutritional and weight-loss supplements, received a takeover bid from private equity finance firm Whitney & Co., its biggest investor, which values the organization at $2.7 billion. The shares rose in after-hrs buying and selling.

Whitney's offers are for $38 a be part of cash, Caymans- based Herbalife stated today inside a statement sent by Business Wire. That's 15 % a lot more than Herbalife's closing cost today.

Herbalife, selling real estate of protein bars and vitamins which was founded in 1980, was taken public by Whitney and Golden Gate Capital Corporation. in 2004, raising $203 million. The 2 firms bought the organization for $685 million in April 2002.

The shares rose $6.06, or 18 percent, to $39.16, greater than Whitney's per-share offer, by 6:28 p.m. New York time.

Whitney, located in New Canaan, Connecticut, and it is affiliates own 27 percent of Herbalife's shares outstanding, based on the statement. Whitney would pay about $1.7 billion for that shares it does not own. Herbalife had 71.3 million shares outstanding by November. 7, the organization stated that month.

Previously five quarters, Herbalife has reported profits that beat analyst anticipation, based on Bloomberg data. Recently, the organization stated inside a preliminary statement that 4th-quarter sales were $482.7 million to $484.7 million. That's under the $485.two million average estimate of 4 experts questioned by Bloomberg News.

Herbalife items vary from snack bars and pills to cosmetics and therefore are promoted by independent marketers who bring home sales commissions. Company speaker Barbara Henderson did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Mark Hughes

Before Whitney's acquisition, Herbalife had fended off other offers. In 2001, investors Steel Partners II LP and Jana Partners LP wanted the organization to market itself or buyback shares, saying Herbalife had taken an ``alarming direction'' following the death of founder Mark Hughes.

Hughes, who were built with a ninth-grade education, died in May 2000 following a four-day consuming binge, an autopsy found. Per month before, Hughes had dropped an offer to consider his company private while he could not arrange funding. In those days, the organization was referred to as Herbalife Worldwide Corporation.

Whitney, founded in 1946 by industrialist and philanthropist John Hay Whitney, stated it is among the first investment capital businesses that assisted develop the non-public equity industry. Whitney Chief Financial Officer Michael Salvator did not immediately react to a phone call seeking comment.

Herbalife's shares rose 38 cents, or 1.2 percent, to shut at $33.10 in New York Stock Market composite buying and selling today. The stock has fallen 2.five percent previously year.

To make contact with the reporter about this story: Vivek Shankar in Bay Area at vshankar3@bloomberg.internet.