Dutch high street chemists group DA, which applied for court protection from its creditors last week, has gone bankrupt and is being taken over by medicine wholesaler Holland Pharma.

Details of the agreement are still sketchy but the takeover will involve job losses, the NRC reports.  The DA Retailgroup is the holding company of the DA chemists chain which operates some 260 stores, mainly franchise operations, nationwide. Some 210 people work at the holding’s headquarters.

‘We are striving to keep as many jobs as possible and you will be invited for a personal chat in the coming weeks,’ director Henk Castelijns said in a letter to staff.

Castelijns has been interim director of DA since October and is now also a director of Holland Pharma, the NRC says.

It is not clear what the impact of the bankruptcy and takeover will be on the franchisees themselves. DA itself owns seven shops while more than 250 are run by self-employed chemists.