Lloyds has been carrying out a divestment programme in Scotland this year and 18 Blackadders’ clients have taken the opportunity to purchase outlets. Some have used the opportunity to expand their portfolio and others have been bought by young pharmacists starting out on their ownership journey.

The deals have involved multiple parties including financial backers, banks and selling agents.

The corporate team at Blackadders was led by the firm’s chairman, Peter Duff, and included associate, Richard Wilson and commercial real estate solicitor, Natalia Bell. Dario Demarco, who recently moved on from Blackadders, also played a key role in many of the early deals.

Mr Duff said: “This is an area we specialise in and pulling these deals together was a fantastic team effort. Everyone involved has done a really good job. Our clients now have new businesses and tremendous opportunities to grow their ventures under their own brands.”

The final Lloyds’ outlet was purchased by a Blackadders’ client last week. The completed deals have been spread across the country including outlets in major markets like Glasgow, Paisley, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Perth and more remote branches including Rothesay.

One client bought 11 outlets and Blackadders are understood to have been involved in around 20% of all the sales of Lloyds’ branches in Scotland.

Mr Wilson said: “Pulling all these deals together in a relatively short space of time was a challenge but once the team got into the swing of it, we managed to secure all the outlets our clients wanted.”

Blackadders have been involved in the pharmacy sector for many years and deal with clients across the country, particularly in Glasgow.

Ms Bell said: “We have a lot of clients in this sector and like them, we see real potential in the opportunities presented by the Lloyds divestment programme. It’s great to work with so many young chemists as well as established operators and we look forward to working with them in the future as their businesses grow and expand.”

Blackadders have also been involved in other Lloyds Pharmacy sale deals with corporate & commercial partner Suzi Low and her team acting for the Bank of Scotland in lending to a number of non-client buyers.

Lloyds has been selling a significant number of its standalone stores in Scotland under a programme called Project Sapphire. They have also announced they will be closing all their 237 outlets in Sainsbury’s over the course of this year.