Gryphon Investors-Backed Vivify Specialty Ingredients Acquires AuNutra Industries

Acquisition Expands Vivify’s Presence in High Growth Nutraceutical Industry and Broadens its Specialty Ingredient Portfolio

ITASCA, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gryphon Investors' portfolio company Vivify Specialty Ingredients ("Vivify" or the “Company”), a leading provider of specialty colorants, additives, and ingredients for the food & beverage, personal care & cosmetics, and industrial end markets, announced today that it has acquired AuNutra Industries (“AuNutra”), a supplier of botanical extracts and specialty nutritional ingredients to the nutraceutical and supplement industries. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2003, AuNutra offers a broad portfolio of standardized botanical extracts, herb powders, vitamins, amino acids, and other nutritional ingredients. The acquisition expands Vivify’s capabilities in the growing nutraceutical and supplement industries and will create opportunities for each Companies’ employees, customers, and suppliers as the combined business look to leverage the strengths of each respective organization to further accelerate growth. The combination also expands Vivify’s distribution capabilities across North America as AuNutra is headquartered in Chino, California. Together, the companies will offer customers a broader product portfolio, enhanced technical expertise, and an expanded sales and support network.

“We are excited to welcome AuNutra to Vivify,” said Brian Leen, CEO of Vivify. “This move strengthens our position in the exciting and high growth markets of nutraceuticals and supplements. AuNutra offers a diverse range of botanical and herbal extracts as well as other specialty ingredients which are a strong complement to Vivify’s strength in natural color. Our combined teams will support the innovation needs and speed to market that customers in this industry value.”

Kava Liu, Founder of AuNutra, said, “I am proud of what our team has built at AuNutra and am excited about what we can accomplish as part of Vivify. The combination provides additional scale, resources, and capabilities that will allow us to better serve our customers and suppliers while creating new opportunities for our employees. I continue to be a significant investor and look forward to continuing to support our growth strategy as part of the combined organization.”

“AuNutra is a highly complementary addition to Vivify and represents another important step in the Company’s growth,” said Tim Bradley, Deal Partner in Gryphon’s Heritage Group. “Since partnering with Vivify, we have focused on expanding the Company’s product capabilities and positioning it as an increasingly valuable partner to customers across attractive specialty ingredient markets. AuNutra brings differentiated expertise, excellent suppliers and strong customer relationships in the attractive nutraceuticals and supplements end markets.”

Genoa Partners LLC served as the exclusive financial advisor to AuNutra Industries in connection with the transaction.

About Vivify

Vivify Nutrition is a high-performance natural and synthetic color and ingredient solutions company. We combine deep technical expertise with an unwavering commitment to performance - delivering vibrant, stable and robust solutions across the full spectrum of food, beverage, and nutraceutical applications. We partner closely with suppliers who share our dedication to responsible sourcing, supply reliability, and consistent quality, so our customers can count on us when it counts most. We support our products with applications and regulatory expertise to enable the innovation, speed to market and consistent performance that our customers need. To learn more please visit www.vivifycompany.com.

About AuNutra

Founded in 2003, California-based AuNutra^® Industries, Inc. is a rapidly growing nutraceutical ingredient company. AuNutra^® has one of the largest collections of herbal ingredients available in North America. Focused on standardized botanical extracts, we also supply nutraceutical, functional food, cosmetic and personal care industries with herb powders, vitamins, amino acids and other nutritional ingredients. With a commitment to always providing products with exceptional quality, all of our ingredients are manufactured under strict GMP and ISO-9001:2000 quality certifications. AuNutra^® Industries, Inc. is also a supplier of Kosher-certified high purity botanical extracts. To learn more please visit www.aunutra.com.

About Gryphon Investors

Gryphon Investors is a leading lower middle-market private investment firm focused on growing competitively-advantaged companies in the Business Services, Consumer, Healthcare, Industrial Growth, and Technology Solutions & Services sectors. With more than $10 billion of assets under management, Gryphon’s three core investment strategies include its Flagship, Heritage, and Junior Capital Funds. Gryphon prioritizes investments in which it can form strong partnerships with founders, owners, and management teams and generate enduring value through its integrated deal and operations business model. Gryphon’s highly-differentiated model integrates its well-proven Operations Resources Group led by full-time senior operating executives and functional experts in artificial intelligence, capital markets, finance & accounting, human capital and information technology. To learn more, please visit www.gryphoninvestors.com.