Clairfield International acts as exclusive financial advisor to AixSwiss in the sale to Vision Healthcare

VHC was founded by Yvan Vindevogel and is today backed by Avista Capital Partners, a leading New York-based private equity firm with over USD 8 billion invested globally.

AixSwiss was founded in 2015 by Jörg Paule and Fabio Öster and is headquartered in Kerkrade at the German-Dutch border. The companies’ impressive growth journey propelled their “Nupure” probiotic brand to a market leading position in the DACH e-commerce channels. The rapidly growing Nupure brand is set to achieve sales of EUR 20 million in 2022 at strong profitability levels. VHC’s overall vitamins, minerals, supplements, nutraceutical, and digital expertise combined with AixSwiss’ probiotic expertise, will create the perfect synergetic play to unlock new growth opportunities for the Nupure brand. At the same time, AixSwiss’ digital omni-channel know-how will open new growth avenues for the Vision Healthcare brand portfolio. The acquisition is in line with VHC’s ambitious strategy to further expand its leading digital omni-channel platform of VMS & Nutraceutical products in Europe and reinforces VHC’s portfolio focus on attractive growth segments.

Jörg Paule, co-founder and CEO of AixSwiss says: “I am very excited that we are joining the Vision Healthcare consumer healthcare family and we’re all very much looking forward to working closely with the entire Vision group and developing our next growth opportunities, in particular by leveraging on VHC’s strong digital expertise and pan-European market reach. Fabio and I remain committed to the business by reinvesting some of our proceeds into Vision Healthcare. Clairfield did an extraordinary job in bringing the best of the buyer universe to the table.”

Fabio Öster, co-founder of AixSwiss says: “I am very happy we have been able to find an entrepreneurial group like Vision Healthcare to join forces with. In our discussions with Vision’s teams, Jörg and I believe that we have found the perfect partner to further develop the business and grow together with Vision itself. The entire AixSwiss team is looking forward to working together. The Clairfield team was a 100% reliable and professional partner throughout the whole process and helped us outperform our goals.”

Geert Cools, CEO of Vision Healthcare, says: “We are very pleased to welcome Nupure in the Vision Healthcare family of brands. Nupure is an impressive growth story of a digital native probiotic nutraceutical brand establishing a market leading presence in the DACH e-channels after a couple of years’ time. The integration of Nupure will further reinforce Vision Healthcare’s position as a leading digital omnichannel in the VMS & Nutraceuticals market and will strengthen Vision Healthcare’s portfolio in high growth spaces to serve the growing nutraceutical consumer needs.”

Yvan Vindevogel, Chairman of the executive committee of Vision Healthcare says: “After a very intensive M&A year in 2021, we’ve spent 2022 in further developing and integrating our Group while looking out for interesting and strategic M&A targets. Nupure fits in our ambitious expansion strategy as the leading consolidator in the still deeply fragmented European D2C healthcare space. With the Nupure brand acquisition, Vision Healthcare is further establishing itself as the leading pan-European digital omni-channel online consumer healthcare platform.”

Albert Schander, co-founder and board member of Clairfield, says: “The successful sale of AixSwiss is another landmark transaction that showcases Clairfield’s expertise in hot-spot industries such as e-commerce, consumer health, and food supplements. We wish Jörg and Fabio the best of success for their upcoming journey with Vision Healthcare.”

Konstantin Zygan, director at Clairfield in charge of process management, says: “Our team was able to execute an extremely efficient and streamlined M&A process, accessing all relevant European offline and online pharma players to position the USPs of AixSwiss convincingly. We are proud of the transaction outcome in every aspect and will follow the new chapter of AixSwiss with great interest.”

Dentons Frankfurt and Amsterdam (Dr. Volker Junghanns, Kuif Klein Wassink) provided legal transaction advice to the Sellers.

About AixSwiss

AixSwiss is a leading probiotic nutraceutical supplement provider, operating under the “Nupure” brand mainly through online D2C, Amazon International marketplaces, and e-pharma channels in the DACH markets. Headquartered in the Netherlands, AixSwiss serves a customer base predominantly in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Nupure’s top probiotic nutraceutical supplements are mainly in the gastrointestinal (Probaflor), skin health (Probaderm, Probariasis, Lactoglow, Probaskin), oral health (Probadent), and women’s health (Lactointim) areas.

About Vision Healthcare

Vision Healthcare is a fast-growing European digital-first omnichannel platform empowering consumers to enhance their personal health and wellbeing. Vision Healthcare acts as a one-stop-shop ecosystem incorporating all required components to execute D2C retailing orders through a large portfolio across VMS, Nutraceuticals, Beauty Nutriments, Personal Care Products and OTC. Brands connect with the consumer through digitized and D2C marketing & channels: its own web shops, online marketplaces (Amazon International, bol.com, and e-pharmacies), social media and influencers, SEA, SEO, email, mail order & catalogues, and retail and teleshopping. Vision Healthcare is significantly invested in the development of its Digital Hub, a proprietary end-to-end shared resource, centralizing all e-commerce and e-marketing activities to support digital growth across the Group. Vision Healthcare is operating as a consolidator in the still deeply fragmented European D2C healthcare space, having completed and integrated more than ten acquisitions. The company is actively pursuing a buy-and-build strategy, anchored in a deep understanding of today’s macro-economic trends such as shifting channel dynamics & digital brand building, increasing consumer self-medication, and natural/organic products.