Company Execs Buy Numico's Unicity

OREM, Utah--Unicity Network, Royal Numico's multilevel marketing association, announced July 17 it was purchased in a management buy-out. This comes as a surprise since Bohemia, N.Y.-based NBTY Inc., which had already bought Numico's Europe-based GNCs, signed a Feb. 28 letter of intent to acquire Unicity.

A management group of Unicity executives, headed by Paulo Bangerter and Aaron Webber, initiated the buy-out. Bangerter, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the acquiring company and former general counsel of Unicity Network, stated, "We are very pleased that Unicity Network will be held and managed by people who know and love this business. This event signals a renewed commitment to our independent business owners around the world who have been the foundation of our company's success."

The company will now be known as Unicity International Inc. "This is essentially an entrepreneurial business, and from today forward it will be both entrepreneurially held and managed, enabling us to reach our significant potential," said Webber, who will serve as co-CEO of the new company; Webber formerly served as Unicity's Executive VP of Global Sales. Richard Bizzaro, CEO of Unicity Network since 1999, stepped down from his position after the acquisition.

The acquiring company also stated that additional announcements related to structural improvements and long-term plans will be made over the next 60 days. Bangerter and Webber noted Unicity would continue its long-standing agreements with Royal Numico for ongoing R&D support and manufacturing needs.

Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed, although Numico reported the sale would bring in a positive cash flow--taking into account proceeds, resulting tax benefits and other related costs--of $22.4 million by the end of the first quarter in 2004.