Risa Partners exits drug store to Tsuruha Holdings for $99m

Headquartered in Hiroshima, Hearty Wants commands a chain of 140 stores located in Hiroshima and through the Chugoku region of western Japan. The company has JPY2.2 billion in capital and reported sales of JPY51.1 billion for the 2012-13 financial year.

Risa Partners acquired Hearty Wants through its Risa Corporate Solutions Fund II, which reached a JPY22 billion final close in November 2009, short of its JPY30 billion target,

Hokkaido-based Tsuruha Holdings already has a network of 1,146 drug stores - including 237 dispensing pharmacies - across Japan, as well as 11 stores in Thailand. It is using the Hearty Wants acquisition to bolster its presence in the Chugoku region.

According to a release, Tsuruha is looking to capitalize on the further growth of the Japan's pharmaceutical and health and beauty segment, which is being driven by the country's ageing population.

The group - which had net sales of JPY343 billion in the last financial year - intends to expand the number of Hearty Wants stores across Hiroshima and Yamaguchi prefectures and increase the number of dispensing pharmacy under the Wants Pharmacy brand.

Overall, Tsuruha aims to expand its number of stores in Japan to 1,500 and increase sales to JPY500 billion by 2016.

Risa Partners was set up in 1998 and acquired by NEC Capital in 2010 in a deal reportedly worth JPY15.8 billion.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Consumer
• Exits
• Buyout
• buyout
• Exit
• Consumer
• Japan
• NEC Capital