Private equity firm Birch Hill signs deal to buy Rexall Pharmacy and Well.ca

Drugstore chain Rexall Pharmacy Group and online retailer Well.ca are due to land under Canadian ownership after a Toronto-based private equity firm announced Thursday that it would purchase both brands from McKesson Corp.

Birch Hill Equity Partners did not immediately reveal financial terms of the agreement it struck with McKesson, a Texas-based healthcare services business that said selling off the two companies would allow it to focus on growing its oncology and biopharma divisions instead.

The deal will hand Birch Hill, whose portfolio has previously included Mastermind Toys, Sleep Country and Ace Bakery, a toehold in the pharmacare industry and put its retail prowess to the test once more.

Rexall operates 385 pharmacies across Canada and employs about 8,000 people. Well.ca offers more than 40,000 health and wellness products online.

Their sale to Birch Hill could be “the fuel that accelerates the expansion and innovation of these brands in Canada,” said Liza Amlani, co-founder of the Retail Strategy Group in an email.

“Rexall has a fraction of stores in Canada compared to Shoppers Drug Mart,” she said, referencing Loblaw Companies Ltd.’s pharmacy giant, which counts more than 1,300 locations.

“The new leadership team could help innovate Rexall and make them more relevant compared to Shoppers stores which have a monopoly in the market.”

While Birch Hill declined an interview request on the deal, it said in its Thursday release that it’s “committed to maintaining and investing in reliable, accessible health care services to expand Rexall’s network of pharmacies across Canada.”

The private equity firm added McKesson will remain Rexall and Well.ca’s wholesale distribution supplier, ensuring a smooth transition for the business.

McKesson hanging on as a wholesale supplier likely indicates it sees that arm of the business as more profitable than the retail side and a good way to raise cash for its other, more core businesses, said Joanne McNeish, an associate professor at Toronto Metropolitan University focused on marketing.

McNeish liked that the deal hands assets to a Canadian company because so often homegrown firms are sold to foreign firms, but she worried about the buyer being a private equity firm.

“When I think of private equity companies, it seems to me they act like house flippers,” she wrote in an email.

“A coat of paint and new countertops and the company is sold again for a higher price. There is no long-term management and investment in the purchased company.”

While Amlani didn’t weigh in on low long Birch Hill might own the brands for, she thought the deal was a chance to “put some life back into” Rexall and Well.ca and give them a much-needed “facelift.”

“Rexall needs an upgrade to its stores, loyalty program and product mix,” she said.

“Well.ca has a vast product assortment but they could use more brand power and an investment in marketing.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 5, 2024.