December 2017, Newpharma investment

20.12.2017

Brussels, December 18 – Korys announces today the acquisition of Newpharma, together with the management of the company and Colruyt Group. Newpharma is the Belgian market leader for the online sale of pharmacy-related and OTC (“Over The Counter”) products, selling more than 30.000 references and expected to exceed EUR 60m in revenue this year. The company’s innovative e-commerce platform and their focus on health and well-being, proved to be a strong match with Korys’ investment strategy.

Newpharma: broad assortment, high quality and excellent service

Newpharma was founded in 2006 and introduced its online platform www.newpharma.be for Beauty and Personal Care to the market in 2008, backed by strong in-house competences in IT, logistics and marketing. Shortly thereafter, the Company included OTC products to its catalogue as soon as regulation allowed their online sale. Being able to offer a broad assortment of products at affordable prices, has since the beginning been one of the key features of the company’s customer proposition.

Over the years, the company has demonstrated its ability to cope with an evolving market dynamic, while safeguarding the highest standards with regards to quality and respect for public health.

Newpharma is widely recognised in the market for its achievements, as evidenced by numerous awards, such as the Cross Border Award in 2013, the Becommerce Overall Awards in 2009 & 2015 and the Safeshops.be Diamond Award in 2017.

Leading Belgian e-commerce

The company reported a significant profitable growth since its inception and further expanded its offering and distribution capacity over the past years. Active in mainly four countries, with a number one position in Belgium and top three position in France, they grew into one of the leading Belgian e-commerce companies, with a significant footprint in Europe.

The Belgian e-commerce company employs 140 people today and intends to keep its focus on local employment. The current management and their teams will remain in the driver seat in order to continue to realize growth. Newpharma has the ambition to further strengthen its position in the core markets and to expand in other European markets. They chose to take new partners on board to facilitate this expansion.

A partnership built on shared values

Korys, alongside the current Newpharma management team and to a lesser extent Colruyt Group, is buying the Newpharma shares of the existing shareholders through an MBO. “Korys believes in the continuous growth of the company and the role that its management is playing in shaping the market. We welcome the opportunity to join forces with a reputed management to further develop the company as a leading e-commerce player, with strong Belgian roots, and as a sustainable partner within the healthcare eco-system both in a domestic and international context” says Dries Colpaert, Managing Partner at Korys.

“The participation of Korys and Colruyt Group gives us the opportunity to accelerate our international business growth while maintaining our high standard on business ethics and entrepreneurial spirit” says Jérôme Gobbesso, CEO and co-founder of Newpharma. “With the support of Korys and Colruyt Group, we believe that we will be able to bring the company to the next level of maturity.” Mike Vandenhooft, CMO and co-founder of Newpharma, continues: “Continuing the adventure with new partners is amazing when values are so deeply shared. Furthermore, we are excited to gain access to their experience in various areas and to exchange practices with new e-commerce colleagues.”

About Korys

Korys is a family-owned holding company that on the one hand focuses on direct investments in non-listed companies, and on the other hand also manages a portfolio of listed investments. Today, it has more than EUR 4 billion of assets under management, among which a significant participation in Colruyt Group, a leading retail company in Belgium and France. Investment decisions are taken with a long term perspective on the basis of economic, ecological and social merit. Korys aims to create sustainable value through a diversified portfolio of investments and focuses on investment themes in which it has built substantial expertise, such as “Conscious Consumer”, “Medical Revolution”, “Energy Transition”, “Leadership in Retail”, “Resource Revolution” and “Future-proof Real Estate”. Korys has a team of more than 20 professionals based in Belgium and Luxembourg.

About Newpharma

Newpharma, the first online pharmacy in Belgium, was launched in 2008 and is the online extension of a physical pharmacy. As an online pharmacy with a European dimension and 1.000.000 patients, Newpharma delivers to 12 countries from its main website www.newpharma.be and boasts 4 other local websites for France, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria. With over 30.000 products and 750 brands, Newpharma also distinguishes itself by its advanced logistics and the capacity to deliver the majority of Belgian orders placed before noon in 24h. In 2015 Newpharma reinforced its position on the French market by acquiring the websites Paraseller and Parafemina. This continued the trend started in 2014 with the acquisition of the website MonGuideSanté, one of the historical players in the French parapharmacy landscape. The online pharmacy also occupies the 31st position in the top 100 of the Belgian e-commerce players and was awarded 4 times during the BeCommerce Awards. Furthermore, the company is part of the EAMSP (European Association for Mail Service Pharmacies). Newpharma, whose growth is historically financed through own funds, generated a turnover of 43 million euros in 2016 and aims at 45% growth in 2017.

More information is available on www.newpharma.be.

Contact
Marc Henri De Bruyne
VADEMECOM sprl
Avenue des croix de feu, 173
1020 Bruxelles

T : +32 2 269 50 21
M: +32 486 96 49 49
E-mail:

About Colruyt Group

Colruyt Group operates in the food and non-food distribution sector in Belgium, France and Luxembourg with approximately 540 own stores and over 600 affiliated stores. In Belgium this includes Colruyt, OKay, Bio-Planet, Cru, Dreamland, Dreambaby and the affiliated stores Spar and Spar Compact. In France, in addition to Colruyt stores, there are also affiliated Coccinelle, CocciMarket and Panier Sympa stores. The group is also actively involved in the foodservice business (supply of food products to hospitals, company canteens and catering businesses) in Belgium (Solucious). The other activities comprise the sale of fuel in Belgium (DATS 24), printing and document management solutions (Symeta) and the production of green energy (Eoly). The group employs over 29.000 employees and recorded a EUR 9,4 billion revenue in 2016/17. Colruyt is listed on Euronext Brussels (COLR) under ISIN code BE0974256852.

Contact

Journalists: Frans Colruyt (COO) or Hanne Poppe (Press Officer)
+32 2 363 50 51 (extension: 92590)
or e-mail:

Financial journalists and analysts: Marc Hofman (CFO) or Liesbeth Nuelant (Investor Relations).

Tel. +32 2 363 50 51 (extension: 92590)
or e-mail: