goetzpartners advised Penta Investment

Penta Investments, the Central European investment group, has agreed with Celesio AG to acquire its Lloyds pharmacy chain and Gehe wholesale distributor. The purchase price reached 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 is subject to the Czech antitrust authority clearance. Fortlane Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to Penta in this transaction.

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.

"By this acquisition Penta significantly contributes to strategically improve pharmaceutical distribution in Central Europe", said Dr. Stephan Goetz, Managing Partner of Fortlane Partners.