SOFIA (Bulgaria), March 16 (SeeNews) – Bulgarian drug distributor Sopharma Trading [BUL:SO5] said on Thursday it has reached an agreement to acquire the operations of its local peer PharmaStore, which will start operating under the SOpharmacy brand once the deal is concluded.
Sofia-based PharmaStore operates 19 pharmacies in Sofia and Burgas, Sopharma Trading said in a bourse filing. The price of the deal was not disclosed.
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The deal will guarantee the two pharmacy chains a stronger market position, and will also contribute to Sopharma Trading’s operations in the retail segment, the company added.
The deal is still subject to approval by Bulgaria’s Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC).
On Monday, Sopharma Trading announced it will seek its shareholders' approval to take out two loans worth a total of 40 million levs ($21.74 million/20.45 million euro) to to partly finance the purchases of drug retailers in Bulgaria and an unnamed drug wholesaler in Serbia.
Sopharma Trading is a unit of Bulgarian drug maker Sopharma [BUL:3JR].
Sopharma Trading [BUL:SO5] shares closed at 8.298 levs on Thursday, up by 2.45%, as 2,796 units changed hands on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)