Dragons’ Den star Tej Lalvani sells Vitabiotics in £1bn deal with Bain Capital
Dragons’ Den star Tej Lalvani has agreed to sell his family’s vitamins empire to a US private equity giant in a deal worth around £1bn.
The acquisition of Vitabiotics by Bain Capital ends more than five decades of family ownership after Mr Lalvani’s father, Prof Kartar Lalvani, turned the business into one of the UK’s best-known supplements makers.
Tej Lalvani, 52, the company’s chief executive and a former investor on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den, said the deal represented “a defining moment” in the company’s history.
He said: “I’m incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to build on my father’s vision to harness the power of science and nutrition to improve everyday health.”
Vitabiotics, which makes popular supplements including Pregnacare, Wellman and Wellwoman, was founded in 1971 by Prof Lalvani, now 94.
Prof Lalvani, born in Karachi into a Sindhi Sikh family as the son of a pharmacist, moved to London in the 1950s to study before setting up in business.
The company had remained under family ownership ever since and grown into Britain’s biggest vitamin business by sales, with Mr Lalvani previously saying it had no outside investors, bank loans or overdrafts.
Mr Lalvani joined the business after university and said he began by sticking labels on boxes in the warehouse before working in every department.
He has rejected suggestions he simply inherited the business, saying his father expected more of him than other employees.
He has also spoken of his turbulent childhood. His father and mother, a former Miss India, divorced when he was eight, leaving him to split his time between Britain and India and attend eight different schools.
After becoming chief executive in 2015, Mr Lalvani oversaw Vitabiotics’ international expansion while becoming a familiar face to television audiences as one of the investors on Dragons’ Den. He stepped down from the programme in 2021 and was replaced by Steven Bartlett.
Mr Lalvani’s elder brother, Prof Ajit Lalvani, an infectious diseases expert at Imperial College London, has also spent decades advising the company as a non-executive director alongside his medical career.
Bain Capital said it would invest in expanding Vitabiotics overseas, including into markets such as India, China, the Middle East and North Africa. Vitabiotics already sells its products in more than 70 countries.
The investment firm said the UK would remain at the heart of the business following the takeover, with no immediate changes to day-to-day operations.
Vitabiotics’ adverts across the UK commonly feature David Gandy, the model, and TV presenter Tess Daly, who front its Wellman and Wellwoman brands respectively.
Bain Capital said it planned to invest in new products, e-commerce, supply chains and international distribution. The deal remains subject to regulatory approval.
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