Philippine multi-format retailer Robinsons Retail Holdings has bought Rose Pharmacy from Dairy Farm International for an undisclosed amount. 

Hong Kong-headquartered, Singapore-listed Dairy Farm bought 49 per cent of Rose back in 2015, before taking full ownership two years ago. 

Headquartered in Cebu, Rose has more than 300 stores in the Visayas and Mindanao and last year achieved about US$185 million in sales. 

Dairy Farm has been streamlining its business interests in the Philippines, having sold the upmarket Rustan’s supermarket business to Robinsons in March 2018 for $343 million. That chain has since been rebranded Marketplace.

Dairy Farm owns 20 per cent of Robinson Retail Holdings which describes the deal as a furthering of the relationship between the two companies.

Owned by the Gokongweis, Robinson is the Philippines’ second-largest listed retail group.

“Our acquisition of Rose Pharmacy yet again offers ripe opportunities for innovation through strategic synergies,” Robinson president and CEO Robina Gokongwei-Pe said in a statement.

“The deal also further bolsters our strategic partnership with Dairy Farm to strengthen our position in Philippine multi-format retailing,” she said.

The Rose Pharmacy business will complement Robinson’s South Star drugstore portfolio in Luzon and Metro Manila. 

In a separate statement, Dairy Farm said the combined businesses will be geographically complementary, “with greater market share and competitiveness, creating synergies whilst leveraging scale”.

“By bringing these businesses together we have created an enhanced and strengthened pharmacy network, which will provide growth opportunities to team members, and enable greater competitiveness, service and value to customers across the Philippines,” said Ian McLeod, Dairy Farm Group CEO.

Rose Pharmacy carries a lot of products bearing Dairy Farm’s Guardian brand and the Marketplace grocery banner is one developed in Hong Kong and other markets.