Parus Invest, a Russian e-commerce holding company focusing mainly on pharmacy products, has announced a plan to attract up to $20 million in investments, yielding up to 20% of its shares. Discussions are being held with unnamed funds, the holding’s Chairman of the Board Anton Buzdalin told last week Kommersant, a leading Russian business daily.
The operation, which could take place by the end of this year, aims at developing or acquiring new online businesses.
As of today, Parus Invest owns medicine delivery sites Piluli.ru and Eapteka.ru as well as such other e-commerce properties as Kidstore.ru (children’s goods), Parfy.ru (cosmetics and perfumes), and Day5.ru (home appliances).
The group’s owners – Anton, Roman and Sergey Buzdalin – expect its turnover to reach 1.5 billion rubles this year, or approximately $50 million, with a 10% EBITDA margin. Parus Invest’s valuation may reach $100 million by the end of this year, they hope.
The Buzdalin family also owns the A5 and Sotsialnaya Apteka offline pharmacy retail networks.
The online pharmacy segment is growing by up to 50% each year, compared with 15% growth, at most, for offline retail, Anton Buzdalin said. According to him, online pharmacies with home delivery services occupy a market share of up to 15%, which may represent $200 million in sales this year.
