INW, a provider of custom R&D, manufacturing and marketing support solutions for global brands that serve the fast-growing nutrition and wellness industry, has acquired Capstone Nutrition, a best-in-class developer and manufacturer of high-quality nutrition and wellness products, from Brightstar Capital Partners.

Headquartered in Ogden, Utah, Capstone is a full-service developer and manufacturer for established and emerging wellness brands across the specialty health, functional food, immunity support, digestive health, holistic health, fit and active lifestyle, skincare and pet care markets.

Jared Leishman, Capstone’s current chief executive officer, has been named CEO of the combined company. Leishman served as both the chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Capstone prior to his appointment as CEO in 2016. Cornell Capital and affiliated investors acquired INW in March.

“This transaction positions INW as a leading, full-service platform in this fragmented and high-demand segment of the health and wellness market,” said Justine Cheng, partner at Cornell Capital. “Capstone’s expertise across a variety of product forms and ingredients, highly flexible infrastructure and 30-year history of quality and efficiency as a trusted brand partner are impressive. We look forward to partnering with Jared and the rest of Capstone’s experienced team to share best practices and drive continued growth at INW across an expanded operational and customer footprint.”

“We are excited to join the INW family and accelerate growth by leveraging our innovative capabilities, operational flexibility and blue-chip customer relationships as part of this expanding global platform,” Leishman said. “Combining our two complementary businesses will continue to strengthen INW as a world-class turnkey service provider of differentiated products across the vitamins, minerals and supplements categories. I am confident that together we can enhance our position as a leading provider of innovative, customer-focused solutions for the modern health and wellness industry.”

“This strategic combination with INW fulfills the aspirations Brightstar had for Capstone when we acquired the Company in 2019,” said Andrew Weinberg, founder and CEO of Brightstar. “We are proud to have played a role in Capstone’s growth and are confident that INW is the right partner to continue and expand its position as an innovative industry leader.”

Guggenheim Securities LLC is acting as financial advisor to INW and Cornell Capital, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP is acting as legal advisor. Jefferies LLC and BMO Capital Markets Group are acting as financial advisors to Capstone, and Fredrikson & Byron P.A. and Kirkland & Ellis LLP are acting as legal advisors.