Bridges Ventures acquires Medicx Pharmacy Group

UK-based social impact investor Bridges Ventures has acquired Medicx Pharmacy Group, including nine pharmacies in the North of England, according to a statement from Bridges Ventures. 

The investment, the seventh from Bridges Sustainable Growth Fund III, was made for an enterprise value of about £10 million ($15 million; €13.6 million), according to an industry source. 

The founders of the pharmacy chain retain a sizeable minority in the company, the source said. 

Medicx' existing management team of chief executive, chief financial officer and development director have invested in the new business and will remain in place. 

The investment size is typical for the fund that closed in 2013 at £125 million and takes it over the halfway mark, but a new funding round is not imminent, the source said. 

The Medicx investment will create 'the Hub' pharmacy group that will act as a platform for the fund's buy-and-built strategy, according to the statement. 

The fund is actively looking for pharmacies and is very close to completing another transaction, with a number of similar deals at the advanced stage, the source said. 

The pharmacies in the existing group will be refitted and expanded with the aim of boosting health care services in under-serviced areas, the statement said.

The Sustainable Growth Fund III provides growth capital to businesses typically in the health and well-being, education and skills and environmental sectors that have a social impact. In mid-2014, it made its sixth investment by acquiring a controlling interest in the UK's Wholebake that manufactures healthy snack bars, as previously reported by Private Equity International .