#PSC10YearsTrading
One of the biggest news stories in the sector during our fourth year of trading was the acquisition of 782 Co-Operative Pharmacy branches by the Bestway Group for a reported £620m. The group was re-branded as Well during the following year.
This was the first sale of a non-wholesaler owned pharmacy chain for many years and it is particularly interesting to reflect on this now in light of the recent announcement that private equity company Aurelius has agreed to acquire the entire UK business of McKesson, including over 1,400 Lloyds pharmacy branches and the AAH wholesaling business for £477m!
During this year, we reached two significant milestones in that we negotiated our first sale of a group of pharmacies to a major multiple and we also handled a unique case involving negotiating terms with a health centre developer, relocating and selling a pharmacy all in the same transaction.
The sale of an independent group of pharmacies in the West Country was a tale of building long-term relationships. It originated from the valuation of a single pharmacy which we mentioned in our Year 1 summary as being our first paid piece of work. That initial valuation led to PSC being instructed to sell a group of 7 pharmacies which we successfully sold to Well, who had ambitions to grow their newly acquired business further and who already had a strong presence in the area.
The health centre project we supported was located in the northeast of England. It started out with plans for a new medical centre building. Our client, who owned the nearest pharmacy to the site, had been approached by the developers to ask if he would be interested in moving his pharmacy into the new building. We were asked to act for the client in negotiating lease terms for the site and, as is often the case, discussions became very protracted as there were changes to both the location of the site and the developer, before final agreement could be reached.
Due to the delays, our client, who was approaching retirement, was unsure whether he wanted to commit to a long-term project. Therefore we were asked to negotiate the sale of the business to a regional independent group which was linked to the new lease being finalised and approval being granted by NHS England for a relocation to the new health centre. We acted for the client in all these matters, including representing the parties at an appeal authority oral hearing and eventually, more than 3 years after we started working with the client, everything fell into place. This was a transaction that required us to call upon several areas of expertise which few other agents are able to offer.
Here’s a recap of years 1 – 3
