"We are delighted that we have received regulatory approvals and our investment agreement has now been completed," said Executive Vice Chairman and CEO Stefano Pessina. "We believe GuoDa holds a strong position in the sector, and as a global pharmacy-led health and beauty enterprise, we are well positioned to support its further growth ambition. We are looking forward to sharing our international best practices and pharmacy expertise. We believe there is great potential in working together to play a transforming role in the evolving Chinese retail pharmacy market."
Sinopharm Holding Guoda Drugstore Co., Ltd. ("GuoDa") is a large national pharmacy chain in China. It is China National Pharmaceutical Group Corporation's (CNPGC) retail pharmacy platform, established in March 2004 and headquartered in Shanghai. GuoDa operates more than 3,800 retail pharmacies across around 70 cities, and employs close to 20,000 people. After more than 10 years of rapid growth, GuoDa has developed national coverage across 19 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.