The investment group Penta is set to buy Polish pharmacy chain Mediq Apteka, run by financial group ACP Pharma, the TASR newswire learned on Thursday, August 8. After signing the contract with ACP Pharma, Penta Investments will be in charge of running more than 300 pharmacies in Poland and will thereby become the second largest player on the Polish market.
“The transaction is subject to the agreement of the anti-monopoly office and will involve €70 million," according to a statement from Penta. Penta partner Eduard Maták said that not only will the acquisition strengthen the position of the company on the Polish market, it will also facilitate its speedy expansion, as Penta already operates another chain of pharmacies called Dr. Max in Central Europe.
Mediq Apteka runs 190 of its own outlets and another 79 franchised branches. Penta Investments became the owner of the Dr. Max chain in 2005, and now owns 500 pharmacies in several European countries, including 70 in Poland.
The Sme daily wrote that apart from pharmacies, Penta has acquired control of several Polish hospitals. It also wants to buy more hospitals in Slovakia and the Czech Republic so far; it already owns 10 hospitals in eastern Slovakia. Penta owns just a single health insurer – Dôvera – which brings profits (€50 million last year). There are also concerns about this as the Slovak government wants to nationalize private health insurers and merge them into a single, state-owned one.
(Source: TASR, Sme)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
