“36.6” acquired “LekOptTorg” and “Spring of Health” in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region

The eighth-largest pharmacy chain in Russia in terms of revenue, 36.6, continues to expand into the regions. The company closed the deal with an estimated value of up to 8 billion rubles. on the acquisition of the combined network “LekOptTorg” and “Spring of Health” in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. After Moscow became saturated with pharmacies, large pharmaceutical retailers turned their attention to the north-west of the country, where serious competition had already arisen among market players.

As reported to Kommersant by 36.6, the company has closed a deal to purchase the combined network LekOptTorg and Rodnik Zdorovya, which operates 170 pharmacies in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. Now the pharmaceutical retailer has become the owner of 100% shares in eight main operating companies of the network, including Pharmacy Rodnik Zdorovya LLC, LekOptTorg, Pharmacy Association, and Aptiaki. They own pharmacy leases, brands and inventory.

The acquired pharmacies will continue to operate under their own brands, as they are well known to consumers in St. Petersburg and the region, Alexander Kuzin, general director of 36.6, told Kommersant.

He did not talk about other details of the deal. LekOptTorg and Spring of Health did not answer Kommersant’s questions.

According to Sergei Shulyak, CEO of DSM Group, the approximate amount of the transaction, taking into account the debt obligations of the united network, could be 6–8 billion rubles. The net value of the asset without encumbrances varies from 2.5 billion to 3 billion rubles, says Nikolay Bespalov, development director at RNC Pharma.

According to Alexander Kuzin, “36.6” currently ranks seventh in the market of St. Petersburg and the region, and the deal to purchase “LekOptTorg” and “Spring of Health” will allow the company to increase its share in the region and enter the top 3 in this market. Previously, the industry publication Vademecum reported that thanks to the deal, “36.6” will be able to get closer to its main competitors “Erkapharm” and “Neo-Pharm” in terms of market coverage in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region.

Pharma retailers interviewed by Kommersant say that the Moscow market is quite saturated with pharmacies, so federal chains are looking for access to other regions, especially in the north-west of the country, where there is already serious competition. St. Petersburg, along with Moscow, remains the largest and most solvent market for pharmaceutical retailers, explains independent expert on the pharmaceutical market Nikolai Demidov.

Now it is more profitable for pharmaceutical retailers to buy an existing business with established traffic, says Alexander Monastyrev, president of the Monastyrev.RF network.

Grocery retailers do the same. For example, on Tuesday, Alexei Mordashov’s Lenta closed the deal to acquire the Monetka chain of 2.1 thousand stores in the Urals and Western Siberia (see “Kommersant” dated October 17).

During a crisis in retail, including in the pharmaceutical industry, according to Nikolai Demidov, the activity of M&A transactions always increases. This may be due to the fact that small players are forced to look for opportunities to get rid of their pharmacies due to a decrease in revenue in pharmaceutical retail, which, according to DSM Group, in January-June 2023 overall decreased by 5% year-on-year, to 840 billion rubles

At the same time, federal pharmaceutical retailers have a strong position in purchasing and distribution. The same “36.6” bought the Kit-Pharma chain near Moscow a year ago (see “Kommersant” dated September 1, 2022). At the same time, the company acquired another St. Petersburg chain, Kalina Pharm. And this year Rigla acquired the Pharm chain in Primorye and Trick-Pharm in Krasnodar.

Ekaterina Rakitina, Polina Gritsenko