MELVILLE, N.Y., June 1, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. ("Hain Celestial") (Nasdaq:HAIN), a leading natural and organic food and personal care products company, today completed its previously announced additional investments in Yeo Hiap Seng Limited and its subsidiary ("YHS"), a Singapore-based natural food and beverage company listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
"With a strong foothold in the Asian marketplace through our alliance with YHS, we look to expand the natural and organic product offerings of our Hain Celestial brands and through co-branding with Yeo's," said Irwin Simon.
Both companies increased their equity investments in each other by $6 million, bringing the total equity investments to $8 million. Hain Celestial has obtained an option to purchase additional shares to bring its total investment up to 5% of YHS's issued and outstanding shares, while YHS has obtained an option to acquire shares in Hain Celestial equal to the dollar investment required by Hain Celestial, when and if it should exercise its option.
The companies have been exploring the expansion of distribution channels and geographic markets as well as cross-selling, spanning Asia including Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China, and in the United States, Canada and Europe. Additionally, the companies plan to establish two joint ventures (i) to pursue joint interests in marketing and distribution of food and beverages and product development and (ii) to make investments in natural and organic food and personal care product companies in Asia.
The Hain Celestial Group The Hain Celestial Group (Nasdaq:HAIN), headquartered in Melville, NY, is a leading natural and organic food and personal care products company in North America and Europe. Hain Celestial participates in almost all natural food categories with well-known brands that include Celestial Seasonings(r), Terra(r), Garden of Eatin'(r), Health Valley(r), WestSoy(r), Earth's Best(r), Arrowhead Mills(r), DeBoles(r), Hain Pure Foods(r), FreeBird, Hollywood(r), Spectrum Naturals(r), Spectrum Essentials(r), Walnut Acres Organic, Imagine Foods, Rice Dream(r), Soy Dream(r), Rosetto(r), Ethnic Gourmet(r), Yves Veggie Cuisine(r), Linda McCartney(r), Realeat(r), Lima(r), Grains Noirs(r), Natumi(r), JASON(r), Zia(r) Natural Skincare, Avalon Organics(r), Alba Botanica(r) and Queen Helene(r). For more information, visit www.hain-celestial.com.
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Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements within and constitutes a "Safe Harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause our actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks include but are not limited to general economic and business conditions; the ability to implement business and acquisition strategies and integrate acquisitions; competition; retention of key personnel; compliance with government regulations and other risks detailed from time-to-time in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2006. The forward-looking statements made in this press release are current as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.