Celestial Seasonings
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Specialty tea maker acquired by the Hain Food Group in a stock swap valued at about $390 mil., including $9.5 mil. of assumed debt, the two companies announce March 6. Natural food manufacturer Hain says Celestial Seasonings' herbal supplement line will be retained, but cautions that no specific plans have been set. Sales of the line fell from $4.6 mil. in the first quarter of fiscal 1999 to $1.6 mil. in the fiscal 2000 period ending Dec. 31, 1999, according to documents filed with the SEC. The merger is expected to benefit both companies due to their "extremely complementary" distribution channels. Celestial Seasonings sells roughly 80% of its products in mass market channels while approximately 60% of Hain's products are sold in natural food channels