New Delhi: Apollo Hospitals Enterprise said on Wednesday that it is divesting its front-end pharmacy business to Apollo Pharmacy Ltd for a lump sum cash consideration of Rs 527.8 crore as part of a restructuring exercise.
The board of directors of the company at its meeting held Wednesday decided “to segregate the front-end retail pharmacy business carried out in the standalone pharmacy segment into a separate company Apollo Pharmacies Ltd (APL),” Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd (AHEL) said in a regulatory filing.
Apollo Pharmacy Ltd (APL) will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Apollo Medicals Pvt Ltd (AMPL) in which Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd (AHEL) will have a 25.5 per cent stake.
The other three investors in AMPL, are Jhelum Investment Fund 1 with 19.9 per cent stake, Hemendra Kothari (9.9 per cent) and ENAM Securities (44.7 per cent).
The move followed a review of long-term strategy for both healthcare services and standalone pharmacies of the company.
The company further said APL will “focus on building a multi-year growth platform for the stand-alone pharmacies business to get to a medium-term target of over 5,000 pharmacy outlets over five years with a goal of over Rs 10,000 crore in revenues”.
The step would enable foray into digital commerce as part of Apollo’s omni-channel strategy to “provide consumers increased convenience and ability to choose between online and physical stores”, it added.
Apollo Pharmacy currently has 3,167 outlets in about 400 cities and towns spread over 20 states. Its employee strength is over 21,000 and serves 3 lakh customers daily.
