Broadlake sells its stake in Irish skincare company Vita Liberata

Dublin-based investment company Broadlake has sold its majority stake in skincare and self-tan brand Vita Liberata to US pharmaceutical company Crown Laboratories.

Market sources indicated that the deal is likely to be worth about $30 million (€24.9 million).

Founded in 2003 by Alyson Hogg, the Vita Liberata brand has a celebrity fanbase that includes actors Emma Watson and Sofia Vergara, and singer Alicia Keys. Broadlake, a boutique Irish private investment company led by Pete Smyth, the former chief executive of facilities management and contract cleaning group Noonan Services, invested in the company in 2012.

“We backed an ambitious team in 2012 and over the last five years have supported them during a period of phenomenal growth,” Mr Smyth said. “We view Crown as an ideal partner to support the company on the next stage of its growth and development.”

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The deal marks the second investment exit for Broadlake in two months. Merlyn Industries, the Kilkenny-based shower enclosures company in which Broadlake took a 30 per cent stake in 2015, was sold in November for €68 million to UK bathroom accessories group Norcros.