The Israel Antitrust Authority mergers committee is scheduled to convene on Wednesday to set the final conditions for closing and carrying out the merger between Shufersal Ltd. (TASE:SAE) and New Pharm Drugstores.
Shufersal will have to sell 10 branches: nine branches of the New Pharm chain and one Shufersal branch with a problematic location. The branches must be sold as a single division, i.e. to one buyer, and maintained as a pharmacy chain in order to provide a platform for two competing chains - Shufersal and Super-Pharm - in addition to good infrastructure for the growth of a third chain.
Two of the branches that Shufersal will have to sell are strong branches in strategic locations and large turnovers. Two or three are in a reasonable state, while Shufersal will be glad to get rid of four of them.
The assessment that the deal will be approved has been known for a long time, and the contacts in recent days were designed to determine the number of branches that the deal would give to Shufersal.
Shufersal's annual turnover is NIS 12 billion, while that of Super-Pharm is NIS 4.7 billion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on September 6, 2017
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