Celesio, the Germany-based owner Ireland's largest pharmacy group LloydsPharmacy, has bought the pharmacy business of UK supermarket group Sainsbury's for £125 million (€177 million).

Some 281 pharmacies in the UK will be rebranded with the LloydsPharmacy name, with many of the 2,500 workers transferring to the new company.

LloydsPharmacy, which employs almost 1,000 people in 93 Irish stores, is separately planning to acquire nearly 60 new Irish stores over the next three years. Chief executive of LloydsPharmacy in Ireland Goretti Brady said, "We are actively identifying new sites in areas of the country where we believe LloydsPharmacy can make an impact."

The deal is expected to be completed by the end of next February, subject to regulatory conditions being satisfied.

Celesio, which has its headquarters in Stuttgart, is an international pharmaceutical wholesale and retail pharmacy company with more than 38,000 employees. Its majority shareholders is the San Francisco-based McKesson Corporation, which acquired more than 75 per cent of Celesio shares in February 2014.