Press Release
GREENWICH, Conn., Nov. 7, 2013 – North Castle Partners today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Jenny Craig, an iconic brand in the weight loss industry, from Nestle. North Castle is a leading private equity firm focused exclusively on Health, Wellness and Active Living companies. The terms of the investment, which is expected to close later this month, were not disclosed.
“We are very excited to bring Jenny Craig into the North Castle family and to continue its 30-year tradition of providing consumers with dedicated one-on-one coaching and great tasting, clinically proven food to support their weight loss goals. As a firm focused exclusively on consumer businesses that promote Health, Wellness, and Active Living, we were able to draw upon substantial experience from our current and prior investments in the weight loss, nutrition and fitness industries to evaluate the Jenny Craig opportunity and develop an investment plan that will revitalize the company,” said Chip Baird, North Castle’s Founder and Managing Partner.
North Castle will combine Jenny Craig with Curves International creating a one-of-a kind wellness company that offers consumers an array of diet and fitness tools to meet their individual needs. North Castle acquired Curves International in August 2012.
“The Jenny Craig and Curves brands will continue to operate independently and provide health, fitness and weight loss solutions to different consumer segments,” saidJon Canarick, North Castle Managing Director. ”We believe the two brands give us a unique opportunity to meet the distinct needs of consumers and provide an unmatched consumer value proposition.”
Upon completion of the transaction, Monty Sharma, the current chief executive officer of Curves, will become President and CEO of the combined Jenny Craig and Curves business. ”I am excited to partner with North Castle in combining these two iconic brands,” said Mr. Sharma. ”When North Castle approached me about potentially integrating Curves with Jenny Craig, I immediately recognized that such a transaction would allow us to leverage the strengths and resources of each of these businesses to enhance the experience and results we provide to our members. Curves has made inroads into weight management with our Curves Complete program, but putting Curves together with Jenny Craig will bring our total business to a new level and allow us to offer consumers all of the tools they need. Jenny Craig has volumes of science and the best-trained coaches in the industry. I believe strongly in the importance of a one-on-one coach for consumers on a weight loss journey and that is something both brands offer today.”
In partnership with North Castle and Curves founders Gary and Diane Heavin, Mr. Sharma has been executing a plan to revitalize the Curves brand under the premise that Curves is uniquely positioned to offer both nutrition planning and strength training – the two most critical components to long-term weight loss success – under one roof. The revitalization of Curves is well underway in its first year with the company planning to launch many new consumer-based initiatives in the next few months. Among other things, Curves has taken great steps to enhance its core fitness offering and, in a separate announcement today, introduced a new partnership with Jillian Michaels, the celebrity fitness trainer and health and wellness expert. Ms. Michaels is designing group exercise programs to be done in the famous Curves circuit.
“We are very optimistic about the future of the combined company and will work in partnership with management to leverage our knowledge and network across the weight loss, nutrition and fitness industries from our current and prior investments in Atkins, Equinox, World Health Club, EAS and Naked Juice,” concluded Mr. Canarick.
