36,6 bought 78 doors

36,6, the largest pharmacy chain in Russia, seems to become a really huge player. The company unveiled purchasing of four regional pharmacy chains at $30 mln. After the deal is concluded, 36,6 will proliferate to 980 doors Russia-wide. Market experts are sure, the company's aim is to sell 36,6 to a foreign investor, for example Alliance Health care or Celesio AG, before long.

36,6 acquired four retail chains, that are ZEMpharm (Moscow, 15 doors, $15mln turnover in 2006), Sigma (Krasnodar, 7 doors, $3.4 mln turnover), ACH (Ivanovo, 19 pharmacies, $6.1 mln), Nasha Apteka (Vladimir, 37 doors, $10.7 mln turnover in 2006).

Q1 2007 resulted for the company in 854 pharmacies located in 26 regions. Mr Sergey Krivosheev and Mr Artem Bektemirov are the main shareholders with 70% package. About 30% of shares are in open circulation.

Q1 2007 36.6 sales reported 75% growth in comparison with the same period of 2006 and reached $181.9 mln. The company plans to increase the number of doors from 980 to 1450 till the end of the year.