UAE’s Julphar sells Saudi pharmacy business to BinDawood Holding

Dubai: The Ras Al Khaimah headquartered Julphar has sold its pharmacy business – Zahrat Al Rawdah Pharmacies – in Saudi Arabia to BinDawood Holding for SR444.1 million. Zahrat Al Rawdah is a 100% indirectly-owned subsidiary of Julphar and has 173 retail outlets in the Kingdom.

BinDawood Holding’s current retail portfolio includes grocery stores and building materials. “This move positions BinDawood Holding as the pioneering retailer in Saudi Arabia to integrate pharmacy services within its stores, facilitating smooth access to healthcare products alongside everyday essentials,” said Ahmad BinDawood, CEO, of BinDawood Holding.

Sell non-core assets
Julphar has been trying to streamline operations for some years, and selling Zahrat Al Rawdah Pharmacies is part of the non-core asset disposals. The UAE pharmaceutical company wants to ‘pivot towards future portfolio growth areas’.

Julphar will invest part of the sales proceeds in a ‘growing pipeline’ of value-adding and specialty pharmaceutical products. It is exploring different options for the development and manufacturing of pipeline products in Saudi Arabia.

“Julphar aims to focus on expanding its pharmaceutical product business in the region with the launch of new innovative products in line with its pipeline expansion strategy,” said a statement, adding that the company has ‘around 100 products in its product pipeline in different stages’.

According to Dr. Basel Ziyadeh, CEO of Julphar, “We will continue strengthening our core manufacturing and commercialization activities in Saudi Arabia where we see very attractive growth opportunities with higher strategic value to our shareholders in the future. The divestment proceeds (from Zahrat Al Rawdah) support our balance sheet besides accelerating our strategic plan execution.”

Julphar has been through an extensive transition, including changes to the management. The company has also been working on attaining stability on the profit-making side.

By the end of June, its accumulated losses were Dh348.1 million. At the time Julphar said it will continue to restructure its products portfolio and launch new products in the therapeutic areas in various markets. In this regard, the payoff from the latest Saudi deal will be quite a boost to the Julphar numbers.