NBTY

Company to acquire SDV, Rexall Sundown's mail order vitamins and supplements business, firms announce March 24. SDV is the latest of about a dozen NBTY acquisitions of mail order nutritionals companies since 1986, the firm says. The sale is expected to clear regulatory hurdles and be completed in mid-April. SDV will be folded into NBTY's Puritan's Pride/Puritan.com business over the next two to three years, but the SDV brand will be retained for its products. SDV sales for the second quarter ended Feb. 29 were roughly $3 mil., a slight decline from the year-ago period but consistent with the division's performance since 1998, Rexall says (1"The Tan Sheet" March 27, p. 8)