FT: “Just months after striking a £10bn deal to sell eventually the whole of Alliance Boots, chairman Stefano Pessina has taken a minority stake in a Chinese pharmaceutical wholesaler.
Alliance Boots (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Alliance Boots said on Sunday that it had spent £56m to acquire a 12 per cent holding in Nanjing Pharmaceutical, the fifth largest pharmaceutical wholesaler in China by sales.
It comes hard on the heels of Mr Pessina’s deal in June to initially sell a 45 per cent stake in Alliance Boots to Walgreens, with the option for the US pharmacy chain to buy the whole of Alliance Boots.
Mr Pessina said the latest acquisition would give Alliance Boots “a further presence in China”.
Nanjing Pharmaceutical, which is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, had sales of about £2bn in 2011. Alliance Boots said it had a strong market position in its home province of Jiangsu, operating distribution centres in 12 cities across eight provinces.
Alliance Boots already has a position in China through its joint venture with Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals, the sixth largest pharmaceutical wholesaler in China, which operates in complementary geographies.
“Together they represent more or less 5 per cent of the Chinese market, [which is] not negligible,” said Mr Pessina.
He said Alliance Boots was keen to develop its position in China, because it was a big market, which was likely to consolidate over the coming years. “We must be part of this consolidation process,” said Mr Pessina.
As well as seeking a presence in the US, Mr Pessina has long been keen to build Alliance Boots’s reach in China.”
via Boots in China pharmaceuticals deal – FT.com.
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