Jean Coutu

The Jean Coutu Group (PJC) is one of Canada's leading drugstore chains with more than 390 franchised outlets in Québec, New Brunswick, and Ontario under the PJC Jean Coutu, PJC Clinique, PJC Santé, and PJC Santé Beauté banners. The company dominates the Québec market but trails rivals Shoppers Drug Mart and Katz Group in overall store count. Its Pro Doc subsidiary (acquired in 2007) manufactures generic drugs and supplies them to wholesalers. In mid-2007 the company sold its troubled US arm, the Brooks Eckerd chain of more than 1,850 drugstores, to Rite Aid in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $4 billion. The sale made PJC Rite Aid's largest shareholder with about 28% of the firm's shares.