Terry White buys back chemist franchise

Terry White and a group of pharmacists have bought back the Terry White Chemists franchise from Symbion Pharmacy Services for an undisclosed amount.

The deal will return complete control of Terry White’s 150 franchisees back to White and a group of seven pharmacists, who run the brand under the umbrella of Terry White Management.

TWM says it will soon undergo a search for a chief executive to oversee the operation.

The deal was made with parent company Zeullig Group, which operates the Symbion brand, ending about 15 years of corporate ownership.

Terry White says the company has entered into a 10-year distribution deal with Zeullig, which he describes as a “win-win” for both companies.

“The long and the short of the deal is that we’ve taken ownership, and it’s going to be a win-win. We’ve locked distribution with them, so it gives them certainly, and from our point of view this puts our brand in a strong place.”

White says he will chair the company, the original role he held when the franchise was first founded, and there has been an interim board of seven pharmacists appointed.

“This will happen in two stages. Stage one is where our small board buys the business, which has been done. Secondly will be the sell-down, where we invite our members to become shareholders.”

“There will obviously be some changes to the brand over time, and we’ll need to invest in that, because that was one of the things we were concerned about. The market is getting far more competitive, and we’ve got to marshal the strength of the individual franchise owners to compete.”

Terry White set up the franchise in 1994, and then sold it to FH Faulding in 1998 for about $12 million. Faulding was then purchased by Mayne Group in 2001, which was then split in 2004, with its wholesale division listed as Symbion Pharmacy Services.

Symbion Pharmacy Services was purchased by Zeullig Group, which agreed to keep the Symbion name and helped organise the recent deal with TWM.