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Manchester-based Well completes acquisition of pharmacy chain

Manchester-based independent pharmacy chain, Well – formerly the Co-operative Pharmacy – has completed the acquisition of Care4u Pharmacy Ltd, a local community pharmacy chain that consists of seven branches in South Devon.

The purchase is part of a £200m five-year expansion plan announced by Well last month, following its £620m acquisition from The Co-operative Group by new owners Bestway Group.

The pharmacies will continue to operate under the Care4u brand in the interim, with a refurbishment and rebrand to Well, set to take place within the next 12 months.

No branches are at risk following the acquisition.

Well are also investing £1.6m is being into establishing a new headquarters for Well in Manchester, relocating 227 colleagues from the current Co-operative Group head office.

The business will move into the 22,000 sq ft Merchants Warehouse, a Grade II listed building in Manchester’s historic Castlefield district, in late 2015 (Q4) – with the location chosen in line with the heritage of the business and its historic links to the North of England.

John Nuttall, CEO of Well, said: “Community pharmacies can play a key role in relieving pressure on key NHS services and we are committed to investing £200m over the next five years to grow our business.

“This will enable us to develop the role of the pharmacy team and to make sure Well continues to serve its customers and local communities to the high standard the business has always delivered.”

As demand grows, due to factors such as increasing population size and longer life expectancy, Well aims to increase customer numbers with its enhanced proposition and grow current annual revenues of £750m to £1bn by 2019.

KPMG and Sarah Walton from Weightmans, advised Well on the acquisition, along with Kevin Harrall and Martin Phypers from Pharmacy Advice, Consultancy and Sales (PACS) who acted on behalf of Care4u.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophia Taha .