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3 After gaining a toehold in the U.S. market last year with the acquisition of the venerable Snyder's Drug Store chain, the Katz Group clearly was ready to do more business south of the Canadian border, while filling in its traditional markets in Ontario and western Canada.
Strong growth of its Minnetonka, Minn.-based Snyder's division-- which swallowed Western Drugs and added a number of independents over the year to up its numbers to roughly 80 stores-not only gave the Katz Group the No. 1 market share standing in Minnesota, but likely provided the springboard to a possible acquisition of a large number of Drug Emporium stores.
The deal with Drug Emporium, which, by April 11, still awaited bankruptcy court approval, could signal what Katz Group chief executive Darryl Katz suggested last year would be an aggressive plan to build its business in the United States, boosting the company's U.S. holdings to more than 230 stores. In Canada, the company has more than 600 stores, which operate under three...