Valuable Hero International, the British Virgin Islands-registered company which is an afiiliate of a Chinese dairy producer Feihe International Inc., made a US$28 million offer to acquire 156 remaining stores of Vitamin World, the Holbrook-based retail chain that filed for bankruptcy protection in September 2017.
Beside paying US$28 million cash, the BVI company according to the new bid will also assume liabilities of about US$1.2 million for employees’ accrued vacation and sick days, and pay half the costs related to property leases that exceed US$2.4 million.
This bid followed the previous US$26 million bid with Holbrook-based Latium Enterprises which fell through. The expected closing date for the current one with Valuable Hero is on or before December 31, 2017. Under the agreement, the BVI company would receive a “break-up fee” of US$500,000 and expenses of up to US$350,000 in case the transaction is not consummated.
Vitamin World was previously owned by Nature’s Bounty Co., which sold 90% of the chain in February 2016 to Manhattan private equity firm Centre Lane Partners LLC for about US$25 million.
