Buy-and-build · natural skin health

Consolidating a fragmented category, anchored in mānuka.

Manuka Skin Science acquires and integrates profitable, founder-led natural skin-health brands onto one shared engine — East Cape Mānuka Oil, contracted supply, and a single DTC and science operation — and compounds value toward a trade sale or public listing.

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Confidential — prepared by Cairns & Company. Figures on this page are illustrative; see the full Business Plan for sources and disclaimers.

East Cape, New Zealand — source of the mānuka oil behind every acquired brand

The platform

A platform, not a single brand.

Manuka Skin Science combines a proven anchor brand, a world-leading botanical, and a shared operating engine — then acquires aligned brands on top of it. Value compounds through four levers working together.

01 — ORGANIC GROWTH

Scale the anchor

Push each acquired brand into new channels and geographies; the profitable anchor is a stable cash base, not the growth story.

02 — ACCRETIVE M&A

Buy below the platform multiple

Acquire aligned brands at sub-scale entry multiples, priced to be accretive from day one.

03 — MARGIN EXPANSION

Share the engine

Shared supply, science, e-commerce and operations lift the margin of everything the platform acquires.

04 — MULTIPLE RE-RATING

Re-rate as a platform

A scaled, diversified, science-led platform commands a higher multiple than the sum of its brands.

The value-creation flywheel

Each turn makes the next acquisition more accretive.

START

A proven brand, a world-leading ingredient, a credible science story.

ACQUIRE

Brands that fit the mānuka story, extend the portfolio, add distribution, or bring a capability in-house.

INTEGRATE

Onto the shared supply, science, DTC and operations engine.

SCALE

Margin and reach compound — then repeat.

From seed to skin — ManukaRx production process

From seed to skin — already built

ManukaRx's own supply chain, from contracted mānuka oil through formulation to finished product, is the shared engine every acquired brand plugs into. This isn't a plan to build the engine — it's already running.

The anchor & the moat

The edge is a defensible ingredient that travels across every brand.

East Cape Mānuka Oil carries the world's highest levels of β-triketones — the compounds behind its antimicrobial strength — supported by an unusually deep evidence base and a licensed clinical programme.

Highest β-triketone levels of any mānuka in the world — the source of its potency.
20–30x more effective than tea tree oil against common skin bacteria; up to 1,000x more effective than mānuka honey against gram-positive bacteria.
1,000+ independent published papers — a rare science base for a natural ingredient.
A licensed clinical programme extending mānuka toward botanical medicine (eczema).
Asset-light by design — contracted oil supply, not plantations; capital goes to growth, not dirt.
Vertical formulation capability — in-house NPD via a related-party formulation studio cuts cost and speed-to-shelf for every acquired brand.
First-party DTC data and an off-market deal-sourcing network sharpen targeting and entry price alike.

20–30x

More effective than tea tree oil against common skin bacteria

40,000

ManukaRx customers across NZ, Australia and export markets

1,000x

More effective than mānuka honey vs. gram-positive bacteria

Indicative target pipeline

The anchor, and the brands it could acquire next.

Illustrative for discussion — private-brand figures are directional estimates pending due diligence.

Anchor brand

ManukaRx

~NZ$2m

Revenue, profitable

~40,000

Customers

189,000+

Units sold

Mānuka supply & distribution

STORY + SUPPLY

A proprietary target that deepens mānuka portfolio depth, supply security and distribution reach.

Mānuka-honey skincare

STORY + PORTFOLIO

Pure mānuka-honey skincare, sub-scale — the most on-thesis bolt-on.

Heritage mānuka-honey range

DISTRIBUTION + STORY

Family-owned range with tourism and export distribution already built.

Certified-natural heritage brand

STORY + PORTFOLIO

NZ's original certified-natural brand; heritage strengthens the credential wall.

Doctor-formulated supplements

PORTFOLIO + ADJACENCY

Doctor-formulated NZ supplements for the 45+ market. Optional ingestible-wellness adjacency, not core to the skin-health thesis.

In-house formulation capability

CAPABILITY

Contract-formulation studio behind the anchor brand. Related party — requires disclosure and independent valuation.

Distressed-asset acquisition

ARBITRAGE

A brand acquired out of administration at a trough multiple — the ideal roll-up entry.

Investment thesis

Enter at 3–6x. Exit a scaled platform at 10–14x.

Sub-scale founder brands transact at roughly 3–6x EBITDA; scaled, diversified natural-beauty platforms have exited at 10–14x — New Zealand's Trilogy sold to CITIC Capital at 13.6x. Acquiring earnings at the low end and re-rating them within a scaled platform, on top of organic growth and shared-cost margin expansion, is the engine of the plan.

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For investors

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For founders

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