Overview
The head office is situated at Stockholmer Platz in the new Europaviertel of Stuttgart, next to Stadtbibliothek and Milaneo shopping centre. The company's core business consists of pharmaceutical wholesale and pharmacies. In the pharmaceutical wholesaling sector, McKesson Europe has a market presence in 14 countries. It has a range of services for pharmacists on matters of health, medicines and wellness. An extensive distribution network of more than 134 branches provides deliveries to some 65,000 pharmacies and hospitals.Company structure
The business is divided into two business areas: * In the Pharmacy Solutions division, McKesson Europe combines its wholesale activities with pharmaceutical products in nine European countries. More than 50,000 pharmacies and hospitals are supplied from 116 wholesale branches every day. Additional services for pharmacists are also provided, such as pharmacy cooperations and the provision of IT platforms. McKesson Europe also offers various services for suppliers, manufacturers and other companies in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. * The Consumer Solutions division is aimed at patients and consumers and also includes activities in the areas of retail and mail-order pharmacies and home care. At the end of the 2019 financial year, McKesson Europe had approximately 1,900 retail pharmacies in five countries (Great Britain, Ireland, Belgium, Sweden and Italy) and 6,900 partner and brand partner pharmacies.History
1835 - 1948
The chemist and paint business Gehe & Co. was founded on 1 May 1835 by Franz Ludwig Gehe in1948 - 1981
The Gehe parent company continued to operate in 1947 in Dresden under the name Heilchemie as a publicly owned enterprise and on 1 April 1951 with the nationalised parent company of the pharmaceutical company Dr. Madaus & Co from Radebeul merged to form VEB Arzneimittelwerk Dresden. Haniel took over the majority of the Gehe & Co. AG shares with effect from 1 January 1973. The condition of Haniel was that the GEHE’s management remained in the company, in order to further expand the solid foundation that was established after the war. The name Gehe, known in the pre-war period, was brought to the attention of pharmacists with the revitalised or newly created branches. These branches were formed during the transition to Haniel: Bremen, Hamburg, Kassel, Kelkheim, Landshut, Mühldorf, Munich, Nuremberg, Regensburg and Stuttgart. In 1973, the company achieved a turnover of DM 285 million. Other pharmaceutical wholesalers (Friedrich Schäfer GmbH, Weiterstadt and Kaiserslautern, Wilmaco GmbH, Hamm and Lieser Pharma-GmbH, Duisburg) were brought in to Gehe & Co. AG via the majority shareholder1981 - 2008
In 1982, the Haniel Group acquired RUWA Rudloff & Watermann GmbH & Co. KG in Minden, a pharmaceutical wholesale company with a branch in Delmenhorst and integrated it into Gehe. In 1985, the Kaiser + Kraft Group, Stuttgart, a mail-order business for transport, storage, operational facilities and office equipment, was acquired. Until 1992, customers in Germany were supplied from the branches based in Hamburg, Berlin, Haan, Dresden, Stuttgart and Munich. In the following years, the group's trading structure spread across 14 countries in Europe and the USA. With the public offering of TAKKT on 15 September 1999, the spin-off of the Mail Order Division was ended.From 2003
In April 2003, the company celebrated its 100th year. On the birthday of the conversion into a joint-stock company, the Annual General Meeting decided to change the name from Gehe AG to Celesio AG, with a majority of 99.98%. Today, the German subsidiary GEHE Pharma Handel still operates under its original name. In April 2007, Celesio announced the acquisition of 90% of the shares in the mail-order pharmacy DocMorris, in order to build up a pharmacy chain across Germany. The acquisition took place in hopes that the third-party ownership ban of the Pharmacies Act would fail, but it was legitimised in May 2009 by the EuGH. For the pharmaceutical wholesaler Gehe, which was also part of the Celesio Group, the acquisition resulted in a loss of customers as pharmacists saw a threat in the chain. DocMorris was now operated as a franchise-like concept, in which pharmacists were allowed to use the DocMorris brand with the payment of a monthly licence fee. As a result, Celesio sold DocMorris in October 2012 to the company Zur Rose AG. In June 2009, it became known that Celesio had acquired the majority of the largest Brazilian pharmaceutical wholesaler, Panpharma. In April 2012, Panpharma was fully taken over. In February 2016, Celesio agreed to sell its Brazilian business, consisting of Panpharma and Oncoprod, to the holding of the Brazilian pharmaceutical wholesaler, SantaCruz. In September 2013, Celesio sold its subsidiary, Rudolf Spiegel GmbH, to the company WEPA Apothekenbedarf. On 24 October 2013, the US-based McKesson Corporation announced an agreement to acquire Celesio for EUR 6.1 billion (approx. EUR 23 per share). However, on 13 January 2014, the company reported that McKesson's acquisition of Celesio was unsuccessful, due to the 75% threshold not being reached. At the start of November 2013, the Elliot hedge fund acquired 12.68% of Celesio from Paul Singer, a well-known course of action by him to benefit from takeovers. Following McKesson's failed takeover, Singer increased his direct and indirect stake to around 32%. On 23 January 2014, Haniel took over the share from the Elliott hedge fund and served the 75.99% one day later to McKesson, which meant that the takeover was still a success.Management Board
* Kevin Kettler (chairman of the board, Labour Director, since 1 November 2018) * Tilo Köster (Member of the Board, Law and Compliance, since 23 September 2014) * Alain Vachon (Member of the Board, Finance, since 16 July 2014).Supervisory Board
* Brian S. Tyler (Chairman) * Ihno Goldenstein (Deputy Chairman) * W. M. Henning Rehder (Deputy Chairman) * Detlef Bernhardt * Dennis Both * Jörg Lauenroth-Mago * Pauline Lindwall * Susan Naumann * Ulrich Neumeister * Lori A. Schechter * Jack Stephens * Britt VitaloneSee also
*References
External links
* {{Authority control Companies based in Stuttgart German brands Pharmacy brands Pharmaceutical companies of Germany Companies established in 1835 Medical and health organisations based in Baden-Württemberg