December 21 (SeeNews) - Pharmacy chain Dr.Max, owned by Czech investment fund Penta, signed an agreement to buy Romania's largest pharmaceutical group A&D Pharma for an undisclosed sum.
"The acquisition of the group will be a significant boost to Dr.Max, a company operating also in the Czech, Slovak, Polish, Serbian and Italian markets," Penta Investments said in a press release on Thursday.
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The transaction is pending approval from the anti-trust authority in Romania.
"With the acquisition of A&D Pharma, Dr.Max is further strengthening its presence in Central Europe and is clearly expanding its leading position as an Omnichannel retail healthcare provider in Europe,” Dr.Max CEO Leonardo Ferrandino said.
A&D Pharma owns the Sensiblu and Punkt pharmacy networks, Mediplus wholesale company in Romania and A&D Pharma Marketing and Sales – one of the biggest marketing and sales pharmaceutical platform operating in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).
The acquisition of the A&D Pharma Group is expected to step up the sales of Dr.Max to more than 2.3 billion euro per year ($2.7 billion) and to boost its headcount to 12,000 people. With its total number of 631 pharmacies, the leading full-line wholesaler business, the Marketing&Sales service provider and more than 4,500 people employed, Dr.Max will become number one in the Romanian pharmaceutical market, Penta said.
A&D Pharma is owned by four businessmen, according to data from the company's nine-month financial report.
Dr.Max already operates 31 pharmacies in Romania following the acquisition of Arta pharmacies in June.
In CEE, Dr.Max operates more than 1,300 pharmacies with total annual sales of 1.25 billion euro.
Penta, established in 1994, operates mainly in healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, retail and real estate development. Its portfolio companies provide jobs to more than 32,000 people and reported assets of 8.5 billion euro in 2016. Penta operates in more than ten European countries and has offices in Prague, Bratislava, Warsaw and Munich. In Romania, Penta also owns the local subsidiaries of betting and gambling Fortuna Entertainment Group.
($ = 0.8442 euro)