Robinsons acquires stake in generics firm

Gokongwei-led retailer Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. (RRHI) has acquired a majority stake in the country’s largest generics drugstore chain, The Generics Pharmacy (TGP) owned by the Liuson family.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday, RRHI said it had acquired a 51-percent stake in TGP, which has over 1,800 stores across the country.

The Liuson family has been in the pharmaceutical business since 1959, initially as importer and wholesaler under the name Pacific Pharma. In 1983, Pacific Pharma shifted its focus to generic medicines after realizing the serious need of most Filipinos for quality medicine at affordable prices.

In 2001, the Liuson family ventured into retail and set up TGP. As demand grew, TGP decided in 2007 to make affordable healthcare and medicines more accessible to far-flung areas of the country through a franchising business model.

Combined with RRHI’s South Star Drug, this acquisition would put the retail drugstore network of the Gokongwei group to nearly 2,200 stores nationwide, the largest in terms of total number of store outlets in the country, targeting all types of consumers and covering all segments of the drugstore business. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla