Out of Africa comes Sigma’s next CEO, Vikesh Ramsunder

Sigma Healthcare has poached the chief executive of South Africa’s Clicks Group to replace its long-serving leader Mark Hooper.

Sigma Healthcare's incoming chief executive Vikesh Ramsunder initially wanted to become a pharmacist before working his way to the top of South Africa’s Clicks Group.

As a young man growing up in South Africa, Vikesh Ramsunder dreamt of becoming a pharmacist but after finishing school couldn’t afford to go to university so he took the next best thing and took a job at pharmacy chain and distributor, Clicks Group.

Almost three decades later, after rising to the top of Clicks – which has a $6bn market capitalisation and owns brands including The Body Shop, GNC and Claire’s – Mr Ramsunder is leaving the company and South Africa.

Australia’s biggest pharmaceutical distributor, Sigma Healthcare – which owns Amcal, Guardian and other chemist brands – has poached Mr Ramsunder to replace its long-serving chief executive Mark Hooper.

If trying to find someone to fill the shoes of Mr Hooper – who has run Sigma for more than 11 years – was tough enough, try doing so amid a pandemic where international travel bans prevent face-to-face contact with candidates.

“We had to do it all like this,” Sigma chairman Ray Gunston told The Weekend Australian over video conference on Friday.

But Mr Gunston and Sigma’s board was eventually sold on Mr Ramsunder, 50, describing his rise from within Clicks to become its chief executive a “fascinating story”.

“Vikesh has been there for 28 years. He has grown up through the business, and been in all parts of the business, initially working retail, when there was deregulation of the pharmacy industry over there, then moving into logistics and becoming CEO of their separate logistics business and transformed that,” Mr Gunston said.

“He then became the CEO looking over the whole group.”

But it all started with a passion for pharmacy.

“He actually wanted to train to be a pharmacist but his parents and his family didn’t have the money, so he actually just started working at Clicks, and just worked his whole way up,” Mr Gunston said.

“It‘s a fantastic story for a CEO to come into our business with that coverage, and the passion he will bring to Sigma.”

Sydney-based executive recruiter Maritana Partners completed the search process, which included internal and domestic as well as global candidates. It comes as Sigma is gearing up for tough competition from retail conglomerate, Wesfarmers, which is likely to succeed in its bid to take over Sigma’s smaller rival and Priceline owner, Australian Pharmaceutical Industries.

With a takeover imminent, Mr Gunston said part of Mr Ramsunder’s appeal was he could “hit the ground running”, with a start date scheduled for February.

“In these sort of searches, you sort of have to compromise somewhere along the line. The only compromise we had was that this has taken a little while to get here (appoint a new chief executive) but he‘s going to get here pretty quickly as it turns out anyway.

“Vikesh joins Sigma at an exciting time. The last four years have been committed to a sustained period of critical investments to rebuild our infrastructure in our core wholesale and retail business and set the business up for the future.

“We now emerge from that phase poised to accelerate our growth. Vikesh brings the mix of skills and experience that will be valuable in leading Sigma to fast-track that growth agenda both organically and through acquisitions.”

Mr Hooper was considering stepping down in 2018 – in what would have been eight years in the top job. But those plans were up-ended when Sigma walked away from its exclusive pharmaceutical distribution contract with Chemist Warehouse, losing a third of its revenue.

“When we made that decision not to renew the Chemist Warehouse contract, I had this real sense of obligation to the business, and particularly our customers and our people, to be here to get the business back into good shape,” Mr Hooper said when he resigned in April.

“The business is now in good shape. We’ve made that recovery after making a decision around Chem Warehouse. It was more about me sitting here thinking well, ‘am I committed to doing this for another four, five or six years?’

“This should be a really great opportunity for Sigma to accelerate. After 11 years I think a fresh set of eyes would be a good thing.”

Mr Hooper was originally set to depart Sigma next month but will stay on until Mr Ramsunder arrives, with Sigma’s board granting him a 50 per cent pay rise.

Mr Ramsunder will relocate from Cape Town to Melbourne. He has no fixed term contract with Sigma, which will pay him fixed remuneration of $1m a year, as well as $1.4m in share rights as a sign on bonuses.

He will can also boost his fixed pay by up to 80 per cent subject to certain key performance indicators under Sigma’s short-term incentive plan. In financial year 2023 this bonus payment will comprise of 75 per cent cash and 25 per cent deferred equity.

“I am very excited to be joining a company with the scale and stature of Sigma Healthcare. I would like to thank the board for their trust and confidence in allowing me to lead the business through its next phase of growth,” Mr Ramsunder said in a statement.