Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. said Friday the Philippine Competition Commission has cleared the acquisition by its unit, South Star Drug Inc., of the entire shareholdings of Rose Pharmacy Inc.
South Star signed the share purchase deal valued at around P4.5 billion in September 2020 and completed a month after.
Robinsons Retail said that on 6 November the PCC issued a formal certification that the commission has ended its review of the acquisition since it found “no sufficient basis to prohibit” the transactions. The PCC reviews deals to prevent the creation of monopolies, those that would undermine market competition, or those that will hurt consumers.
Rose Pharmacy, established in 1952 as a family-run drugstore in Cebu City, is one of the leading drugstore chains in the Philippines with close to P8.0 billion in net sales for the first nine months of 2023, up 15 percent year on year. It has 394 stores strategically located in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Robinsons Land said that Rose Pharmacy is a very strategic addition to its drugstore portfolio, with its highly-regarded brand in Visayas and Mindanao. It said Rose Pharmacy will complement the network of South Star Drug, whose presence is strong in Luzon and Metro Manila.
The acquisition, Robinsons Retail, said will allow to leverage its scale and synergies to drive wider product assortment, better customer service, and offer greater value to its customers nationwide.
The listed retail operations of the Gokongwei Group operates two other drugstore banners, Southstar Drug with 639 stores and TGP with over 2,000 franchised stores.
