3I takes majority stake in LABORATOIRE NUTERGIA

The acquisition of a 51% controlling interest in Laboratoire Nutergia by 3i presents a primary leveraged buyout transaction designed to transition a mature, founder-led enterprise into an institutionalized platform capable of capturing pan-European market share. Following a competitive auction process managed by financial advisor Houlihan Lokey involving several leading private equity sponsors, 3i secured the transaction by leveraging its institutional heritage in consumer healthcare and demonstrating complete strategic alignment with the founding Lagarde family, who will retain a 49% minority stake and remain active corporate stewards. The transaction structure utilizes an equity investment within 3i's typical 20 to 50 million euro parameters, complemented by a conservative senior secured bank debt package representing a leverage profile below four times EBITDA, fully underwritten by a ten-lender banking syndicate led by Rabobank. Immediate post-closing operational priorities include the installation of a new healthcare-vetted Chief Executive Officer to manage the growth agenda, which focuses on accelerating pharmacy network penetration, scaling high-margin digital direct channels, and executing programmatic international distribution growth, while exploiting the current well-invested production footprint to preserve high EBITDA conversion margins.