MerryMart buys 75-year-old drugstore chain

Grocery chain operator MerryMart Consumer Corp. has signed a deal to acquire a 67-percent stake in Carlos SuperDrug, the biggest pharmacy chain in Quezon province, to accelerate its nationwide expansion.

MerryMart is taking over Carlos Drugs-Lucena Inc., owner and operator of the 27-branch Carlos SuperDrug, which has been doing business for 75 years.

The current management of Carlos SuperDrug will continue to run the operations of the company in tandem with the MerryMart team, according to the latter’s disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

“In addition to enhancing MerryMart’s range of pharmacy offerings, this transaction will give MerryMart greater market share in the region and increase its competitiveness while strengthening its supply chain as MerryMart continues to strive to deliver better value to its customers and stakeholders,” said MerryMart chief financial officer Hannah Yulo-Luccini.

Company founder and chair Edgar “Injap” Sia II said that while the MerryMart group was continuing with its organic expansion, it would also keep its eyes open for other M&A (merger and acquisition) opportunities in both the grocery and pharmacy space.

Carlos SuperDrug was founded in 1946 in Lucena City by the husband and wife team of Diomedes and Generosa Carlos. The business is cash flow- and net income-positive, according to MerryMart.

This acquisition adds to MerryMart’s current portfolio of retailing formats, which include MerryMart Store, MerryMart Market, MerryMart Grocery, MerryMart Wholesale and Dark Groceries.

MerryMart successfully listed on the PSE in June last year while pandemic uncertainties were still at their peak, raising the curtain for the initial public offering market. To date, it is valued by the stock market at nearly P25 billion.