Vitamin World, the Holbrook, N.J.-based retail chain that filed for bankruptcy protection in September, has received a $28 million offer from an affiliate of a Chinese dairy producer to acquire its 156 remaining stores after a previous bid fell through, Newsday reported. The new bid calls for Valuable Hero International, based in the British Virgin Islands, to pay $28 million cash, assume liabilities of about $1.2 million for employees’ accrued vacation and sick days, and pay half the costs related to property leases that exceed $2.4 million. Valuable Hero is an affiliate of Beijing-based Feihe International Inc., which produces and distributes milk powder and soybean powder in China. A filing in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware last week said that negotiations with a previous bidder, Holbrook-based Latium Enterprises, “broke down” and the agreement with Valuable Hero becomes the stalking-horse bid that potential rivals will have to better. Latium had bid $26 million in cash.
