GF, Stockton Road Pick Up Airborne
After the company's founder trashed Airborne's previous PE backers, the company is again sold in a buyout.
October 13, 2009
Roughly a year ago, Airborne Health Inc. founder Victoria Knight-McDowell re-acquired the dietary supplement maker from Summit Partners. Soon after the deal, she took to the airwaves in a commercial claiming that she was motivated to make the buy because Airborne was being mismanaged after she sold it to the private equity firm.
Apparently, she didn't hold a grudge against the industry, as the company has once again been sold to a financial buyer. This time around, GF Capital acquired Airborne with a co-investment coming from Stockton Road Capital, which also advised GF on the deal. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Upon the close of the deal, Martha Morfitt was installed as Airborne's new chief executive. She previously oversaw a turnaround of CNS Inc., best known for its Breathe Right nasal strips and FiberChoice supplement. CNS was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline in 2006.
Morfitt likely has her work cut out for her, as Airborne has been plagued by various issues since 2008, when the company lost a lawsuit challenging its medical claims and then breached its senior debt covenants.
GF Capital, founded by Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder veteran Gary Fuhrman, has been around since 2001, but the firm only raised its first institutional private equity fund last year. GF focuses on the consumer products, media and entertainment sectors, and counts home goods designer Jonathan Adler Enterprises among its portfolio companies. The firm, in 2007, also invested in Trade Service Co., a database provider targeting the electrical, plumbing and HVAC services sector.
Calls to the firm were not returned by press time.
Stockton Road Capital, meanwhile, was launched by Charterhouse Group veteran Joe Rhodes. Sawaya Segalas & Co. advised Airborne on the sale.
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