The Katz Group of Companies is a Canadian privately-owned enterprise, with operations in sports and entertainment and real estate development. Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG), a subsidiary of the Katz Group, owns the National Hockey League five-time Stanley Cup Champion Edmonton Oilers, as well as professional hockey franchises in the American Hockey League, Western Hockey League, and ECHL, and Aquila Productions, an entertainment and event company. OEG operates Rogers Place in downtown Edmonton. Katz Group is also involved in land assembly, site, and building development in Canada and the United States, including the design and development of Ice District, an area encompasses more than 25 acres anchored by Rogers Place. Katz Group is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Its founder and chairman is Daryl Katz.
Katz Group had some history in the pharmacy business from 1991 until 2016, when it sold its remaining pharmacy interests including the Rexall Drugstore brand and stores to American pharmacy giant McKesson Corporation.
Rexall Health
Katz Group’s former pharmacy business and health-related companies operated under the banner "Rexall Health". Rexall Health included these independently operated businesses:
Rexall/Rexall Pharma Plus, a retail pharmacy chain operating under the 100-year-old Rexall banner. The chain employs over 8,600 people at more than 460 locations across Canada Medicentres Canada, a group of family health care clinics where family physicians and specialists provide health care services to people in Edmonton, Calgary, London and Windsor Claimsecure Inc., a healthcare management and technology firm that provides customized health benefit claims management and plan administrative services to Canadian corporations and other health benefit plan sponsors
In March 2016, Katz sold Rexall to McKesson Corporation for C$3 billion.
History of pharmacy business
In 1991, in a partnership with his father Barry Katz, Daryl Katz paid $300,000 for the Canadian rights to the U.S.-based Medicine Shoppe drugstore franchise, which had over 1,000 stores in the USA. His father was a pharmacist who founded the Value Drug Mart chain in Edmonton in 1978. Katz obtained financing from Vencap Equities, a venture capital fund established by the Alberta government to support local entrepreneurs. Daryl later stated: "If my father wasn't in the business and didn't have a history, I would never have succeeded in getting it."
In 1992, Katz Group opened the first Medicine Shoppe store. In 1996, it purchased the fading Rexall drugstore chain in Canada which at the time only consisted of several dozen stores. Six years after the first Medicine Shoppe was opened, Katz Group’s pharmacy operation consisted of 80 Rexall stores, 30 Medicine Shoppe outlets, and a few smaller independent retailers. In 1997, it purchased the Ontario-based, 143-store Pharma Plus drug store chain from the supermarket operator Oshawa Group for $100 million.
In 1999, it ventured into the U.S. with the purchase of the money-losing Minnesota-based Snyders Drug Store chain, which had $300 million in sales. In 2001, it purchased the U.S.-based Drug Emporium big-box discount chain. The Snyder's chain filed for bankruptcy in 2003 and its 25 stores were sold to Walgreens.
On January 30, 2012, Katz agreed to sell its Drug Trading Company Ltd. to McKesson Corporation for roughly $920 million in cash. Drug Trading Company is a marketing and purchasing arm for a network of over 850 independent pharmacies that primarily operate under the I.D.A. and Guardian brands, and Medicine Shoppe Canada Inc. The sale represented about 90% of the Katz Group's assets, shrinking the group's network of corporate-owned and franchised stores to 450 Rexall/Rexall Pharma Plus stores. Additionally on January 30, 2012, Katz acquired the 18-store Dell Pharmacies chain that operates in the Hamilton, Ontario, area. Dell joined the Rexall chain effective with the announcement.
Regarding the deal, National Bank Financial analyst Vishal Shreedhar suggested, "... Katz Group wants to exit the small pharmacy-focused independent/franchise business because it is most impacted by recent drug reforms. In contrast, Katz Group’s corporate store business ([about] 420 stores) benefits from stronger brand awareness, greater front store penetration and superior vendor support, making it a better growth platform." Katz Group continues to supply Rexall products to the independent and franchise pharmacies sold to McKesson.