BOHEMIA, N.Y., June 7, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- NBTY, Inc. (NTY) (http://www.NBTY.com), a leading global manufacturer and marketer of nutritional supplements, today announced it has signed a contract to acquire, for $115 million, substantially all the assets of Solgar Vitamin and Herb, a division of Wyeth Consumer Healthcare (Wyeth NYSE: WYE).
 
Solgar(R), a prominent supplement company established in 1947, had sales for 2004 of approximately $105 million. Included in the acquisition are net assets of approximately $64 million. The purchase price will be adjusted based upon the actual net assets transferred at closing. The transaction is subject to regulatory and other customary approvals and is expected to close by August 2005.

Solgar(R) manufactures and distributes premium-branded nutritional supplements including multivitamins, minerals, botanicals and specialty formulas designed to meet the specific needs of men, women, children and seniors. Solgar's headquarters and major manufacturing facility are located in Bergen County, New Jersey.

Solgar's products are sold at nearly 5,000 health food stores, natural product stores, natural pharmacies and specialty stores across the United States. In addition, Solgar's products are sold internationally in 40 countries including North and South America, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

NBTY Chairman and CEO Scott Rudolph, said, "Solgar will strengthen NBTY's presence in the health food store market. The Solgar brand will be focused on serving the needs of the independent health food store across the United States. It is a significant opportunity for NBTY to grow both domestically and internationally."

Banc of America Securities LLC acted as the sole financial advisor to NBTY.

ABOUT NBTY

NBTY is a leading vertically integrated manufacturer and distributor of a broad line of high-quality, value-priced nutritional supplements in the United States and throughout the world. The Company markets approximately 2,000 products under several brands, including Nature's Bounty(R), Vitamin World(R), Puritan's Pride(R), Holland & Barrett(R), Rexall(R), Sundown(R), MET-Rx(R), WORLDWIDE Sport Nutrition(R), American Health(R), GNC (UK)(R), DeTuinen(R) and Le Naturiste(TM).

This release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to our financial condition, results of operations and business. All of these forward-looking statements, which can be identified by the use of terminology such as "subject to," "believe," "expects," "plan," "project," "estimate," "intend," "may," "will," "should," "can," or "anticipates," or the negative thereof, or variations thereon, or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy which, although believed to be reasonable, are inherently uncertain. Factors which may materially affect such forward-looking statements include: (i) slow or negative growth in the nutritional supplement industry; (ii) interruption of business or negative impact on sales and earnings due to acts of war, terrorism, bio-terrorism, civil unrest or disruption of mail service; (iii) adverse publicity regarding nutritional supplements; (iv) inability to retain customers of companies (or mailing lists) recently acquired; (v) increased competition; (vi) increased costs; (vii) loss or retirement of key members of management; (viii) increases in the cost of borrowings and/or unavailability of additional debt or equity capital; (ix) unavailability of, or inability to consummate, advantageous acquisitions in the future, including those that may be subject to bankruptcy approval or the inability of NBTY to integrate acquisitions into the mainstream of its business; (x) changes in general worldwide economic and political conditions in the markets in which NBTY may compete from time to time; (xi) the inability of NBTY to gain and/or hold market share of its wholesale and/or retail customers anywhere in the world; (xii) unavailability of electricity in certain geographical areas; (xiii) the inability of NBTY to obtain and/or renew insurance and/or the costs of the same; (xiv) exposure to and expense of defending and resolving, product liability claims and other litigation; (xv) the ability of NBTY to successfully implement its business strategy; (xvi) the inability of NBTY to manage its retail, wholesale, manufacturing and other operations efficiently; (xvii) consumer acceptance of NBTY's products; (xviii) the inability of NBTY to renew leases for its retail locations; (xix) inability of NBTY's retail stores to attain or maintain profitability; (xx) the absence of clinical trials for many of NBTY's products; (xxi) sales and earnings volatility and/or trends for the Company and its market segments; (xxii) the efficacy of NBTY's Internet and on-line sales and marketing; (xxiii) fluctuations in foreign currencies, including the British Pound and the euro; (xxiv) import-export controls on sales to foreign countries; (xxv) the inability of NBTY to secure favorable new sites for, and delays in opening, new retail locations; (xxvi) introduction of and compliance with new federal, state, local or foreign legislation or regulation or adverse determinations by regulators anywhere in the world (including the banning of products) and more particularly proposed Good Manufacturing Practices in the United States, the Food Supplements Directive and Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive in Europe and Section 404 requirements of the Sarbanes- Oxley Act of 2002; (xxvii) the mix of NBTY's products and the profit margins thereon; (xxviii) the availability and pricing of raw materials; (xxix) risk factors discussed in NBTY's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; (xxx) adverse effects on NBTY as a result of increased gasoline prices and potentially reduced traffic flow to NBTY's retail locations; (xxxi) adverse tax determinations; (xxxii) the loss of a significant customer of the Company; and (xxxiii) other factors beyond the Company's control.

NBTY cannot be certain that the measures taken will be sufficient to meet the section 404 requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. NBTY cannot guarantee future results, trends, events, levels of activity, performance or achievements. NBTY does not undertake and specifically declines any obligation to update, republish or revise forward- looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrences of unanticipated events.

Consequently, such forward-looking statements should be regarded solely as NBTY's current plans, estimates and beliefs.