(By Balaseshan) Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF), a global network marketing nutrition company, said it has completed the acquisition of manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The Grand Cayman, the Cayman Islands-based Herbalife expects to begin production in this facility as early as June 2014, and anticipates that about 500 new jobs will be created by the time it reaches full operations.
Over the next two years, Herbalife projects to invest in excess of $100 million on machinery & technology, as well as a complete retro-fitting of the existing facility to ensure it is in full compliance with U.S. Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) for dietary supplements and food products.
The purchase of this facility further expands Herbalife's global manufacturing capacity and is in line with the company's stated strategy to increase self-manufacturing for its top products.
Herbalife sells weight management, nutritional supplements, energy, sports and fitness products and personal care products through a network of about 2.7 million independent distributors, except in China, where the company sells its products through retail stores.
HLF is trading up 2.20% at $37.15 on Friday. The stock has been trading between $24.24 and $73 for the past 52 weeks.