Bear Stearns Group Buys Vitamin Shoppe for $300M

NEW YORK CITY-When Vitamin Shoppe Industries Inc. started 25 years ago as a one-store operation selling nutritional supplements from a New York City corner location, few would have predicted its meteoric rise in fortunes. Even fewer would have foretold that the retailer’s 120 locations in 14 states would be acquired by a unit of Bear Stearns in a transaction that sources close to the deal tell GlobeSt.com is valued at around $300 million.

Bear Stearns Merchant Banking revealed today that it has acquired the North Bergen, NJ-based firm from J.P. Morgan Partners and FdG. Vitamin Shoppe’s current CEO Jeff Horowitz, and president and COO Tom Tolworthy will continue to run the company.

“Tom and I are delighted to be working with Bear Stearns Merchant Banking to build this business into the leading supplement retailer offering the broadest product selection at the most competitive prices,” states Horowitz. “We believe we have a lot to look forward to and that this transaction bodes well for the future of our brand.”