The Cork-based pharmacy group, Phelans, has sold 10 of its outlets to Uniphar in a deal believed to have netted its owners an average price per property of more than €1 million.

Conor and Denise Phelan sold all but two of their pharmacy outlets to a division of healthcare distributor Uniphar. The deal is thought to be worth more than €15 million.

The deal is likely to see the outlets being taken over by their current managers.

The 10 outlets were bought by Uniphar's Independent Pharmacy Ownership Scheme (IPOS), which buys chemist outlets with a view to selling them to younger pharmacists over 10 years.

Mr Phelan and his wife, who are both under 40 years of age will retain the Carrigaline, Co Cork, outlet which was their first pharmacy and which they opened in 1988. They will also keep the Glanmire, Co Cork outlet, opened in 2001.

Negotiations on a sale to the German group, Gehe, in 2001 broke down after the introduction of deregulation in the pharmacy sector led to Gehe reducing the price it had offered. Gehe was not invited to bid again prior to the sale to Uniphar.

Mr Phelan said he was pleased that the sale meant the outlets would now remain in independent ownership. "I always believed that independent ownership was best for customer service."

He said he and his wife had sold the pharmacies so they could "take life a bit easier". He would not discuss the price paid.

IPOS is a division of Uniphar and now has 62 pharmacy outlets operating in its scheme.

The chief executive of Uniphar, Mr Jim Canavan, said the purchase of the Phelan outlets underlined Uniphar's commitment to the ethos of the independent pharmacy in the Irish market.

"We are the only company supporting and expanding community pharmacy ownership by independent pharmacists. We believe that this will be the best way of guaranteeing the future role of the independent community pharmacist."