A French healthcare company has agreed to buy a majority stake in Navi Group, the Dublin-based pharmacy wholesale and services business, in a deal that is believed to put a value of in excess of €50 million on the group.
A spokesman for the Irish company declined to comment on the size of the stake being acquired or the value of the deal.
The deal comes four years after Dublin-listed Uniphar was blocked by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) from taking over Navi on competition grounds.
Two years ago, Navi’s former executive chairman, Simon Healy, sold his almost quarter stake in the business back to the company, after settling a dispute over alleged wrongful dismissal that ended up in the High Court.
Details of the stake sale, outlined in Navi’s 2024 accounts, pointed to an overall valuation of about €51.2 million at the time it was struck. It is expected that the current deal is worth north of that valuation.
Navi, which has 90 employees, is 100 per cent owned by founder and current chief executive, John Carroll, through a holding company called Fonthill Pharmaceuticals.
The agreed new partnership will see Hygie31, which is affiliated to over 3,900 independent pharmacies and has a combined turnover of €5.0 billion, bring its scale and expertise into the Irish market and position Navi for further expansion, the company said in a statement.
Navi is the leading independent pharmacy services platform in Ireland, bringing together more than 600 community pharmacies – representing almost 30 per cent of the market – and generating about €700 million in trade.
Navi’s current management team is committed to the business for the long term and will work with Hygie31 to further expand the company both in Ireland and in new markets, the statement said. It will give Hygie31, which is headquartered in Toulouse and has previously been focused on France, Spain and Italy, with a platform to expand its business further across Europe, particularly the UK, it added.
“This partnership with Hygie31 is about taking the capabilities Navi has built in Ireland and combining them with significant international expertise, investment and best practice to create even greater value for our pharmacy customers,” said Carroll. “Together with Hygie31, we will continue to grow Navi at home, and we also plan to expand our managed pharmacy services platform into new markets.”
Hervé Jouves, chairman of Hygie31 Group, said: “Ireland represents a highly dynamic market and a natural gateway into the English-speaking world.”