Rexall (known for decades as Pharma Plus) will sell its 470 drugstores to the U.S. health-services company McKesson Corp for about $3 billion. Rexall is owned by Calgary-based Katz Group, which describes itself as one of Canada’s largest privately owned enterprises. Daryl Katz, Katz Group founder and chairman, is also owner and governor of the Edmonton Oilers. Rexall said McKesson will continue to operate the stores under the names Rexall and Pharma Plus in Canada. The sale is expected to close in the first half of 2016 and require regulatory and shareholder approval including the Competition Bureau and the Investment Canada Act. McKesson has a long history in Canada providing medicine, health-care supplies and information technology to other companies in the health-care arena. In a release, the two companies said Rexall and McKesson have already been working together for 20 years. There are Rexall stores in South Bayview in the Sunnybrook Plaza, at 320 Moore Ave and on Mt. Pleasant Rd.north of Briton House. Rexall cuts back on dispensing staff in South Bayview
