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# Clicks is taking control of ARC in a R507 million deal
- URL: https://www.businessbagel.com/clicks-r507m-control-arc-premium-beauty/
- Published: 2026-09-30T02:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-30T02:29:59.000Z
- Description: Clicks has agreed to lift its stake in the premium beauty chain ARC to 61%, and the competition authorities still get the final say.
- Author: Christian Maidman
- Tags: Companies, Business Bagel News

Clicks has owned a piece of ARC since 2021, and until now it has always been the smaller partner. On Monday the pharmacy chain said it had agreed to buy another 35.3% of the premium beauty retailer from its founding shareholders for R507 million. That takes Clicks to 61%, and with it, control.

ARC is not a pharmacy with a make-up aisle. It sells international prestige brands across fragrance, skincare, make-up, haircare and bath and body, from 12 stores in big shopping malls and a strong online shop. Its Sandton City store is the largest beauty store in Africa, and it wants to be trading from somewhere between 20 and 30 stores over the medium term.

## Customers the two already share

The deal is less of a leap than it looks, because the two businesses already meet at the till. ARC has been an affinity partner on Clicks ClubCard, the loyalty card, since 2021\. Over the past year those ARC customers spent R836 million in Clicks stores, 16% more than the year before. And ARC's click-and-collect orders can already be picked up at Clicks stores.

Clicks puts the premium beauty market at more than R6 billion a year, and chief executive Bertina Engelbrecht said a controlling stake gives the group more exposure to it. Her case is that ARC has built a position nobody else in that market has, and that the two can grow it using each other's strengths. The bigger stake, she said, gives Clicks "greater ability to participate in ARC's future growth" while keeping the founders and managers who built the business.

## What R507 million does not buy yet

None of it is final yet. The competition authorities still have to approve the deal, and it only takes effect on the first day of the month after they do.

It is also not a buyout. The existing shareholders stay invested, and ARC's management has committed to staying until at least 2028\. That team is led by Jamie Lane, a former head of merchandise and marketing at Clicks, who has been ARC's chief executive since it launched. Lane said the partnership was written so that ARC's entrepreneurial, brand-led culture stays at the heart of the business.

If approval comes through, Clicks will hold the controlling vote in a chain that wants to grow from 12 stores to as many as 30, still run by the people who built it.