Supplement maker NBTY completed its purchase of Numico's ailing vitamin business Rexall Sundown last week, and immediately cut jobs at the unit.
Reports in regional papers said that mid-level and upper-level managers at Rexall Sundown were immediately laid off at the Boca Raton vitamin company, although numbers varied in different reports.
The Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel suggested that around 200 workers lost their jobs, including the chief executive officer Ralph Denisco.
NBTY paid $250 million in cash for the acquisition, which was financed by a new senior credit facility consisting of $275 million in term loans and $100 million in a revolving credit agreement.
Maker of the Nature's Bounty, Vitamin World and Puritan's Pride brands, NBTY has been on a major acquisition spree in recent months, buying up supplement activities in Europe, including Numico's GNC outlets operated by the Health & Diet Group in the UK and Germany and Ahold's De Tuinen retail chain.
The firm reported sales growth of 22 per cent in the third quarter of 2003, continuing the upward trend of the last year.