Christie + Co acquires Orridge Business Sales to create UK's largest specialist pharmacy practice

Christie + Co, the transactional and advisory company of the Christie Group, announces that it has acquired Orridge Business Sales Limited ("Orridge Business Sales"), the specialist pharmacy business agents for an undisclosed consideration.  The acquisition of Orridge Business Sales by Christie + Co will create the UK's largest specialist pharmacy agency and advisory practice. Christie + Co operates from a network of 14 UK offices, each serving a dedicated region of the country, and 13 international offices.
 
Orridge Business Sales was founded by Queen Victoria's pharmacist Benjamin Orridge in 1846 and is the oldest established specialist firm of pharmacy business agents in the UK. Christie Group previously acquired the retail and stocktaking business, trading as Orridge, in 2002. The acquisition of Orridge Business Sales will enable the Group to further exploit opportunities that exist across the client bases of both companies.
 
Commenting on the acquisition, David Rugg, Chief Executive of Christie Group and Chairman of Christie + Co, said:
 
"This acquisition is extremely exciting for us and a natural expansion of our presence in the pharmacy sector.
 
"In a period when the pharmacy sector continues to demonstrate its resilience to general market conditions and its popularity with investors, the bringing of Orridge Business Sales into the Christie + Co fold is very timely. Our combined expertise and experience will, I am certain, be of great value to our clients
 
"We have great respect for the history of the Orridge business and look forward to welcoming its clients to the wider Christie Group. We believe that Christie + Co's enlarged register of pharmacies for sale is now the largest in the UK and will offer both independent and corporate operators the best choice, whilst our transactional database provides reliable comparables for valuation purposes in an opaque market."