Pharmacy sold to ‘award-winning’ couple despite funding ‘challenges’
The Yorkshire pharmacy was sold despite a funding process “riddled with challenges”, while an Uxbridge pharmacy has been snapped up by a family business of first-time buyers, sector brokers have announced.
Marton Road Pharmacy in Bridlington, Yorkshire, was brought to market to allow owner Tapiwa Masamha to focus on his other pharmacy businesses and “create more family time”, business property adviser Christie & Co said yesterday (September 20).
Mr Masamha had “significantly grown” the business and “almost doubled” the “high-volume” pharmacy’s dispensing numbers to 18,500 items per month since he bought it in 2017, it said.
After a confidential sales process, “award-winning husband-and-wife pharmacist team” Jaya Authunuri and Aswini Gaali, who already own another pharmacy in the town, bought the pharmacy for an undisclosed amount, it added.
Overcoming “challenges” for an “unmissable chance”
Christie & Co director of pharmacy Jon Booth highlighted that “standard hours pharmacies with this level of volume remain rare to the market” and have their “challenges in attracting buyers”.
Associate director at Christie Finance Alena Ray, who sourced a “competitive funding package” for the deal, added that “the funding process was riddled with challenges along the way”.
But Mr Booth said that it was a “pleasure” to handle the sale for Mr Masamha after his “incredibly successful years at the helm in which the business had been dramatically improved”.
Meanwhile, the new owners revealed that “at first, [they] were a little uncertain due to timing” when the broker “approached" them with the opportunity last summer “shortly after” they had been involved in another pharmacy transaction in the town.
But after securing funding and being convinced that “this was an unmissable chance that aligned with [their] future plans”, they are now “[looking] forward to supplying high-quality pharmacy services to the townspeople of Bridlington”, they said.
Former owner Mr Masamha wished the couple the best and said he was pleased that the pharmacy “has been sold to such a forward-thinking pair of pharmacists already embedded in the local area”.
Uxbridge pharmacy sold after three decades
It comes as Hutchings Consultants announced today (September 21) that husband and wife team Chhotalal and Illa Chhaya have sold Oakleigh Pharmacy in Uxbridge after 30 years in order to retire.
The broker said that the 4,100-item pharmacy, which sold in July, attracted five offers from four potential buyers.
The pharmacy sold for an undisclosed amount to a family business of first-time buyers who remained unnamed but who said that they will “no doubt be looking to purchase more pharmacies in the future”, it added.
Location, location, location
Andrew Woodwark, Hutchings pharmacy consultant, said that the “turnover and monthly dispensing items of this North West London pharmacy made it a perfect and achievable opportunity for the first-time buyers”.
“At the same time, its size, location and potential for growth in services provision all make ample room to develop the pharmacy and increase the new owners’ return on investment,” he added.
Mr Woodwark also said that while “London is always a popular area for pharmacy sales”, the north west “is proving particularly buoyant right now with high demand for pharmacies of all shapes and sizes in the area”.
