Utah’s Usana moving into China with purchase of company

By Tom Harvey
The Salt Lake Tribune
Aug 16, 2010 06:05PM

Utah-based Usana Health Sciences has purchased a Chinese direct-selling company with which it hopes to expand into that huge potential market.

Usana, which manufactures and sells nutritional and personal care products, said Monday it purchased BabyCare Ltd. for $45 million in cash and 400,000 shares of company stock.

BabyCare also manufactures and sells nutritional products, with an emphasis on infant nutrition.

China is considered a largely untapped but potentially highly lucrative market for direct sellers, which also are called multilevel marketers. Such companies depend on a network of independent distributors of their products who earn commissions on the sales to “downlines” of new recruits.

“We are very excited about this acquisition and the opportunity that it provides for Usana to ultimately establish a business via BabyCare in China,” Usana CEO Dave Wentz said in a statement.