The sale of roughly one quarter of Dennis Bastas’s business DBG Health for $1.6 billion has seen it surge to a valuation of more than $7 billion, with the Greek Australian claiming it will ultimately list on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
The Greek Australian sold a minority stake of around one quarter of DBG Health to a private capital fund run by BDT & MSD Partners and was overseen by the American firm’s chairman and co-chief executive, Byron Trott, as reported in the Australian Financial Review.
Speaking on the sale, Bastas said:
“The key point for me is, this is a long-term investment. This is a 10-year horizon investment for me and BDT. I wanted to find an organisation that respected the way we do business and the commitment that I have to a plan, and we have a five-year plan.”
Trott said Bastas was the type of entrepreneur that BDT wanted to support – “a founder with a clear long-term vision, deep operational expertise, and a track record of building scaled, category-leading businesses.”
The sale will push Bastas’s personal wealth from nearly $3 billion to an estimated $5.07 billion, according to the Financial Review Rich List, while Bastas will continue to own around 75 per cent of the company.
The sale will also allow DBG Health (which Bastos founded roughly a decade ago) to access up to $1 billion of additional capital for future acquisitions, making this one of the largest private, founder-led transactions in Australian business.
Bastas, who is the son of Greek immigrants, stated his preference is to keep the business private for now, but he expects it to eventually become a publicly listed company.
“My leadership is best while the company is private, and I have the flexibility and long-term thinking opportunity, and that I’m not being led by tactical or short-term matters that shareholders are often interested in,” the executive chairman and founder of DBG Health said.
“It is certainly a company that is suited to be a public company at some point. The breadth of our portfolio, the fact that we’re Australia’s largest pharmaceutical business, run by Australian owners for Australia will make this the kind of company that should be in the hands of Australian investors.”
DBG Health owns the country’s largest generic drug manufacturer, Arrotex.
Bastas has also established a beauty business by adding makeup brands MCoBeauty, Nude By Nature and Poni to the portfolio.
MCoBeauty replicates – or dupes – big-name cosmetics and skincare products and sells them at affordable prices in supermarkets and chemists.
DBG Health has grown immensely in the past several years and now generates $2 billion in annual revenue.
The 58-year-old confirmed that there are long-term investment goals for his business empire, specifically targeting further growth overseas.
“Starting in 2026, the biggest part of this add-on investment of $1 billion is that we will pursue international acquisition opportunities of brands that would benefit from sitting on the scale and platform we’ve created with MCo and Nude by Nature, and the partnerships we’ve created with retail partners,” he said.
Bastas confirmed he eventually will become a minority shareholder in DBG Health once he feels he has achieved all his goals.
“The moment I decide that I’m happy to be a minority shareholder … that my job is done as the executive chairman, then I will look for the exit strategy very likely to be an IPO here in Australia,” he said.
