On 1 April 2021, Dr Oliver Scheel will take over as CEO of the Apologistics Group (www.apologistics.com) from founder and long-time CEO Michael Fritsch, who built up the company and led it to its current success.
With overall responsibility, Dr. Scheel will lead the further growth of the Apologistics Group and further expand its position as the largest privately owned “pharmacy for all” in the German healthcare market. Michael Fritsch will remain on the company’s advisory board and will continue to support the successful growth of the company with his extensive expertise in the pharmacy market as an advisor and shareholder.
“I am very much looking forward to the new task of opening the next chapter of the Apologistics Group together with a strong team. In the growing market of online pharmacies, the company is by far the most innovative with its highly automated logistics processes and has all the foundations to grow disproportionately in the coming years and to significantly increase its own market shares,” says Dr Oliver Scheel, CEO of the Apologistics Group. Dr. Scheel, who holds a doctorate in bio-chemistry, brings many years of healthcare industry and management experience to his new role at Apologistics. Before joining Apologistics GmbH as CEO, he held various executive positions in healthcare portfolio companies of the investor EQT Partners AB, including CEO of Ottobock SE & Co. KGaA. Prior to that, Dr Scheel was a partner at the global management consultancy Kearney, where he built up the “Health Practice Business” division in the DACH region and led it very successfully for over a decade.
The Apologistics Group operates, among others, the digital online pharmacy Apo-Discounter (https://www.apodiscounter.de/) and is the third largest mail order pharmacy in the German market. The company, founded in Leipzig, operates a highly automated fulfilment centre for pharmaceutical products in very close proximity to one of the largest and most efficient logistics service providers. Apologistics has been supplying customers in Germany, Poland and the DACH region reliably and in the shortest possible time for more than 10 years.
In anticipation of the expected strong growth of the mail-order pharmaceutical business in Germany, a fully automated logistics centre was built in the Netherlands, near the German border, following investment from THI Investments. Currently the most innovative logistics centre in the online pharmacy market in Europe, it has a potential capacity of more than EUR 1 billion in annual sales and has been supplying customers in Germany and several European countries with OTC and Rx products since spring 2020.
Through the intelligent combination of both logistics centres, Apologistics GmbH serves its customers reliably, quickly, cost-effectively and with the highest service quality, including same-day delivery in the German online pharmacy market. The logistics capacity provided in conjunction with simple, customer-focused ordering processes via its own app, the online store, and in close cooperation with various partners who are leaders in their respective market segments, creates an ideal platform to address the rapid growth in the market. In addition, the company anticipates further accelerated growth due to the introduction of the electronic prescription in Germany from summer 2021. Thus, by 2025 alone, the German online pharmacy market will increase fivefold to more than 12 billion euros.
Dr. Ludger Laufenberg, Managing Director “Strategy & Business Development”, THI Investments confirms the extremely positive development and growth opportunities of the company as a digital “pharmacy for all” as a result of the upcoming electronic prescription in Germany. Further positive effects are expected from the increasing number of “online-savy” shoppers of all ages for OTC products, an increasing system-critical relevance for the nationwide supply of prescription drugs and a rapid development of the digital patient-centric ecosystem, e.g. in the field of telemedicine. Dr. Laufenberg believes that with the reinforcement of Dr. Oliver Scheel, Apologistics GmbH is ideally equipped to sustainably position itself among the leading online pharmacies in the German and European healthcare market in the coming years: “We are very pleased that with Dr. Scheel we have gained a highly competent expert from the multi-faceted healthcare market as well as a comprehensively experienced management personality for Apologistics”. Founder Michael Fritsch is also looking forward with anticipation to the further development of the company and the collaboration with Dr. Oliver Scheel: “After the successful development of Apologistics in recent years, we are facing further exciting development steps and I am pleased to be able to support Dr. Scheel and the entire team on this path.”
THI Investments
THI Investments is a family owned pan-European private equity investor with total AUM of €1.8bn and offices in Stuttgart and London. It is a direct private equity investor with permanent capital and a long term operationally focused investment approach. THI invests equity amounts from £30-100m in businesses in its core sectors of Education and Training, Business Services, Industrials and Healthcare in Western Europe. THI seeks to invest into market leading businesses by backing strong management teams. The firm’s Strategy and Business Development team brings significant operational and industrial expertise to assist management teams in driving value creation in portfolio companies.
On 1 April 2021, Dr Oliver Scheel will take over as CEO of the Apologistics Group (www.apologistics.com) from founder and long-time CEO Michael Fritsch, who built up the company and led it to its current success.
With overall responsibility, Dr. Scheel will lead the further growth of the Apologistics Group and further expand its position as the largest privately owned “pharmacy for all” in the German healthcare market. Michael Fritsch will remain on the company’s advisory board and will continue to support the successful growth of the company with his extensive expertise in the pharmacy market as an advisor and shareholder.
“I am very much looking forward to the new task of opening the next chapter of the Apologistics Group together with a strong team. In the growing market of online pharmacies, the company is by far the most innovative with its highly automated logistics processes and has all the foundations to grow disproportionately in the coming years and to significantly increase its own market shares,” says Dr Oliver Scheel, CEO of the Apologistics Group. Dr. Scheel, who holds a doctorate in bio-chemistry, brings many years of healthcare industry and management experience to his new role at Apologistics. Before joining Apologistics GmbH as CEO, he held various executive positions in healthcare portfolio companies of the investor EQT Partners AB, including CEO of Ottobock SE & Co. KGaA. Prior to that, Dr Scheel was a partner at the global management consultancy Kearney, where he built up the “Health Practice Business” division in the DACH region and led it very successfully for over a decade.
The Apologistics Group operates, among others, the digital online pharmacy Apo-Discounter (https://www.apodiscounter.de/) and is the third largest mail order pharmacy in the German market. The company, founded in Leipzig, operates a highly automated fulfilment centre for pharmaceutical products in very close proximity to one of the largest and most efficient logistics service providers. Apologistics has been supplying customers in Germany, Poland and the DACH region reliably and in the shortest possible time for more than 10 years.
In anticipation of the expected strong growth of the mail-order pharmaceutical business in Germany, a fully automated logistics centre was built in the Netherlands, near the German border, following investment from THI Investments. Currently the most innovative logistics centre in the online pharmacy market in Europe, it has a potential capacity of more than EUR 1 billion in annual sales and has been supplying customers in Germany and several European countries with OTC and Rx products since spring 2020.
Through the intelligent combination of both logistics centres, Apologistics GmbH serves its customers reliably, quickly, cost-effectively and with the highest service quality, including same-day delivery in the German online pharmacy market. The logistics capacity provided in conjunction with simple, customer-focused ordering processes via its own app, the online store, and in close cooperation with various partners who are leaders in their respective market segments, creates an ideal platform to address the rapid growth in the market. In addition, the company anticipates further accelerated growth due to the introduction of the electronic prescription in Germany from summer 2021. Thus, by 2025 alone, the German online pharmacy market will increase fivefold to more than 12 billion euros.
Dr. Ludger Laufenberg, Managing Director “Strategy & Business Development”, THI Investments confirms the extremely positive development and growth opportunities of the company as a digital “pharmacy for all” as a result of the upcoming electronic prescription in Germany. Further positive effects are expected from the increasing number of “online-savy” shoppers of all ages for OTC products, an increasing system-critical relevance for the nationwide supply of prescription drugs and a rapid development of the digital patient-centric ecosystem, e.g. in the field of telemedicine. Dr. Laufenberg believes that with the reinforcement of Dr. Oliver Scheel, Apologistics GmbH is ideally equipped to sustainably position itself among the leading online pharmacies in the German and European healthcare market in the coming years: “We are very pleased that with Dr. Scheel we have gained a highly competent expert from the multi-faceted healthcare market as well as a comprehensively experienced management personality for Apologistics”. Founder Michael Fritsch is also looking forward with anticipation to the further development of the company and the collaboration with Dr. Oliver Scheel: “After the successful development of Apologistics in recent years, we are facing further exciting development steps and I am pleased to be able to support Dr. Scheel and the entire team on this path.”
THI Investments
THI Investments is a family owned pan-European private equity investor with total AUM of €1.8bn and offices in Stuttgart and London. It is a direct private equity investor with permanent capital and a long term operationally focused investment approach. THI invests equity amounts from £30-100m in businesses in its core sectors of Education and Training, Business Services, Industrials and Healthcare in Western Europe. THI seeks to invest into market leading businesses by backing strong management teams. The firm’s Strategy and Business Development team brings significant operational and industrial expertise to assist management teams in driving value creation in portfolio companies.
