The deal for Shufersal Ltd.'s (TASE:SAE) acquisition of the New-Pharm pharmacy chain is making progress. Following the Antitrust Authority director general's demand that Shufersal sell New-Pharm branches and one Shufersal branch to a third party able to operate a pharmacy chain with pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and toiletries items, Shufersal and Hamashbir 365 Holdings Ltd. (TASE:MSAH) are now notifying the TASE that that the parties and New-Pharm will sell the nine New-Pharm stores stipulated by the Antitrust Authority director general, plus two more New-Pharm franchise stores, and that Shufersal will sell the food store stipulated as a condition for the acquisition.
The proceeds for the pharmacy stores to be sold will be paid to New-Pharm. This means that for the sake of the deal, the chains decided to sell two more branches beyond the Antitrust Authority director general's requirement, probably in order to make completing the deal more attractive.
It is likely that Shufersal and New-Pharm will prefer to close the deal as soon as possible, and will also compromise on the sales of branches considered to be distant from each other, some of which are losing money, at a relatively small profit.
It was also reported that the deadline for signing the sale agreement and the deadline for completing the deal were set at November 20 and December 31, respectively (unless extended by agreement between all the parties).
It was also said that the parties had completed the examinations and presentations stipulated in the agreement, except for completion of the sale agreements required by the Antitrust Authority director general, all the suspending conditions for the agreement had been fulfilled.
Good Pharm out of the picture
Sources inform "Globes" that the Good Pharm chain left the negotiations for the acquisition of New-Pharm, after examining most of the branches regarded as unsuccessful and realizing that the acquisition was too big for Good Pharm in both the number of branches and their distance. Another factor was the requirement by the Antitrust Authority director general that the chain also operate pharmacies - a service that Good Pharm does not currently offer.
New-Pharm and Shufersal are still negotiating with French businessman Alexander Margi, who bought the Center Pharm chain, which now has four branches that also operate pharmacies, three months ago. Margi also owns a chain of pharmacy stores in France. Negotiations are also taking place with another party.
Advocates Zvi Agmon, Ran Shalom, Uri Porat, and Meirav Yung from the Agmon & Co. Rosenberg Hacohen & Co. law firm are leading the sale of New-Pharm and the negotiations with the Antitrust Authority director general.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on October 1, 2017
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