Romania’s Competition Council has approved the deal by which Penta Investment, the owner of Dr.Max, the most extensive network of pharmacies in Central Europe, will buy the Romanian chain of pharmacies Belladonna, local Adevarul reported.

At the end of 2017, the Czech-Slovak investment fund also took over the Romanian drug store chains Sensiblu and Punkt.

Following the deal, the network owned by Penta in Bucharest will account for some 65% of the market, and this was the key issue on which the Competition Council had to decide. Overall in Romania, Penta will hold a modest 5% market share.

At the end of 2017, Penta’s Dr.Max became the first pharmaceutical operator on the Romanian market and among the top 4 drug chains in Europe, after announcing that it bought the Sensiblu and Punkt pharmacies. Penta Investment also took over pharmaceutical distributor Mediplus and A&D Pharma Marketing & Sales - one of the largest marketing and sales vehicle in Central and Eastern Europe.

Dr.Max operates over 1,300 pharmacies in Central and Eastern Europe with total sales of EUR 1.25 billion.

editor@romania-insider.com

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