Alantra advises Wisconsin Pharmacal on the sale of vH essentials® to Avista-backed Wellspring Consumer Healthcare

Aug 2024

Sell-side advisory

New York – Alantra announces that it has advised Wisconsin Pharmacal on the sale of vH essentials® to Wellspring Consumer Healthcare, a portfolio company of Avista Healthcare Partners.

vH essentials® offers a comprehensive portfolio of OTC products for women’s intimacy care. vH essentials® offers product lines designed for every-day problem solutions, including protection (“Relieve”), daily support (“Maintain”), and clean and reset solutions (“Refresh”). The brand’s differentiated and clinically-backed portfolio, enhanced focus on consumer relationships, and supportive messaging around women’s health have reinforced vH essentials® as the “go-to” brand for feminine intimacy care. The brand’s products are distributed through an extensive network of leading brick-and-mortar retailers and e-commerce channels such as Amazon.

WellSpring Consumer Healthcare (“WellSpring”) is a developer and marketer of leading over-the-counter (“OTC”) and personal care brands. The acquisition of vH essentials® represents WellSpring’s second add-on acquisition since Avista’s initial investment in August 2022, following a portfolio acquisition of A+D® and Solarcaine® from Bayer AG in April 2023.

Rusty Ray, Managing Partner and Co-Head of Healthcare at Alantra, said: “The women’s health category has evolved quickly further defined by unique categories around need states, it is exciting to see sizable companies like Wellspring press down in the category.”

Chris Brown, CEO of WellSpring, said: “We are thrilled with the addition of vH essentials®. WellSpring’s women’s health franchise is now anchored by two scaled high-growth brands, vH essentials® and FDS®, with exciting and compelling opportunities to accelerate growth in retail and e-commerce channels. vH essentials® aligns with our core mission to improve the health and wellness of our consumers, and this acquisition helps to unlock the next leg of growth for WellSpring.”

Alex Yu, Partner at Avista Healthcare Partners, said: “The addition of vH essentials® to the WellSpring portfolio is exciting in many respects, as it adds another established, growing OTC brand to the portfolio, drives scale to the platform, and provides Wellspring with an additional avenue to launch impactful innovation to help address consumers’ self-care needs in women’s health.”

This operation represents a notable reference for Alantra, which reinforces its expertise in Consumer Health.