Herbalife Purchasing Micelle Operations

LOS ANGELES Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) entered into a definitive agreement to buy the Micelle Laboratories contract manufacturing operation in Lake Forest, Calif., to expand Herbalifes global manufacturing capabilities. Since 1985, Micelle has served as a contract manufacturing partner for Herbalife; Micelle assisted in development and manufacture of two new products recently introduced by the global multi-level marketing firm.

Herbalife expects to close on the deal in the next 60 days, adding an FDA-certified operation that is already in compliance with federal dietary supplement GMPs (good manufacturing practices), with the expectation of investing in equipment and other enhancements over the next year to increase the facilitys capability. All Micelle staff72 full-time and 20 part-time employeeswill be offered the opportunity to stay on after the deal closes.

Michael O. Johnson, Herbalife chairman and CEO, said: Since 2003, weve increased our R&D expenditures in order to provide our Herbalife independent distributors and their customers with the best science-based nutrition products. The next strategic step is to become more vertical in the development and manufacturing of our products, which will allow us to accelerate new products to market, be more flexible to meet the unique needs of our distributors around the world and enable us to ensure our quality standards are maintained along each step of the manufacturing process, from raw ingredients to finished products in accordance with regulatory requirements.