Ghanaian prescription drugs company mPharma is set to take over Kenyan
pharmacy chain Haltons in a transaction estimated to be worth about
Sh500 million ($5 million). FILE PHOTO | NMG
Ghanaian prescription drugs company mPharma is set to take over
Kenyan pharmacy chain Haltons in a transaction estimated to be worth
about Sh500 million ($5 million).
The deal, which is
subject to approval by the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK), will
help mPharma to spread its network across the East African market.
Founded six years ago by Ghanaian entrepreneur Greg Rockson, mPharma describes itself as a prescription drugs inventory manager.
Kenyan-based
investment fund, Fanisi Capital, holds a majority stake in Haltons
Pharmacy following a Sh300 million ($3 million) investment in the
business in 2013. The pharmacy chain was originally founded by Louis
Machogu. mPharma is currently finalising a Sh1.2 billion ($12 million)
Series B funding round led by 4DX, an Accra/San Francisco venture
capital firm and locally-based Novastar Ventures. It raised $6.6 million
in 2017 in addition to a seed round of Sh500 million ($5 million) in
2015.
Mr Rockson says he is keen on streamlining
operations of the pharmaceutical supply chain across Africa through a
Vendor Management Inventory (VMI) system that is currently used by over
250 pharmacies in Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The inventory
management system is able to control supplies by forecasting demand of
prescription drugs and helping in building bargaining power with
suppliers, eventually lowering the cost of medicine.
“The
drug supply chain in Africa is built on a ‘push’ data model,’’ Mr
Rockson says. ‘’Distributors have to wait to receive a purchase order
from providers before supplying drugs to them. This model is built on
siloed data systems between distributors and providers. As a result,
both parties are unable to forecast demand which leads to frequent
stockouts,” he said during an interview with a Ghanaian media house.
The
looming Haltons takeover follows approval of Dubai-based healthcare
company Shalina’s buyout of an undisclosed stake in Kenya’s
Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Company, a transaction that expanded the
firm’s medicine production and distribution venture to seven countries
in Africa.
Shalina deals largely in prescription and
over-the-counter medicines that include anti-malarials, antibiotics,
anti-inflammatory and nutrition.
It has production facilities in India and China.
The
mPharma-Haltons deal also comes shortly after the investment by beauty
and drugstore chain Goodlife, which bought out assets of Maghreb
Pharmacy. Goodlife Pharmacy has set a target to grow its footprint to
100 outlets regionally.
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