Penta Investments has agreed with Celesio AG to acquire its Lloyds pharmacy chain and Gehe wholesale distributor in the Czech Republic at a purchase price of around EUR 84.5 million.
Lloyds operates 55 pharmacies and is the third largest pharmacy chain in the Czech Republic, while Gehe is the fourth biggest wholesale pharmaceutical distributor in the Czech Republic. The transaction still has to be given the thumbs up by the Czech antitrust authority.
The Lloyds pharmacies will be integrated into Ceska lekarna, a.s, which operates the Dr. Max pharmacy chain on the Czech market.
“We are consolidating pharmacies in Central Europe through Dr. Max and its local platforms. The Lloyds pharmacies and an important distributor Gehe have therefore been a very reasonable target for us. We strongly believe that market consolidation in the pharmacy sector significantly contributes to better quality and accessibility of services for patients,” said Václav Jirků, Investment Director at Penta.
“The integration of Lloyds pharmacies will support our efforts to become the most accessible pharmacy chain in terms of price and location, while the Gehe acquisition is an opportunity to implement our successful Dr. Max business model to the wholesale market. We plan to attract Gehe’s independent clients with strategies similar to those we used in the retail market, namely competitive price and services,”said Pavel Vajskebr, Dr. Max’s CEO.
Penta’s Dr. Max brand operates one of the biggest pharmacy chains in Central Europe. It is a market leader in the Czech Republic (20% market share) and Slovakia (15%) and one of the biggest chains in Poland.
Didn’t realize Dr Max’ mother company was Penta. I shall give their branches a wide berth. (Recently topped up on ibuprofen in the UK (29p for 16 tablets rather than the Ibalgin rip-off here. Other basic medicines as well. Don’t know how I manage to get through bag checks with about 160 ibuprofen, 100 kaolin tabs etc.