EU clears takeover of Alliance Boots
EU regulators on Monday cleared an 11 billion pound takeover of British pharmacy chain Alliance Boots PLC, made by its deputy chairman and a private equity fund.
The European Commission approved the deal when if found no antitrust concerns and received no complaints from rivals.
That clears the way for a takeover next month _ although the new owners, deputy chairman Stefano Pessina and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. remain in talks with pension trustees about the funding of the pension plan.
Pessina and KKR were forced to raise their offer three times to their final bid of 1,139 pence per share to secure their bid for Alliance Boots after a consortium led by financier Guy Hands and Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd. launched a rival bid.
Alliance Boots, formed last year by the combination of drug distributor Alliance Unichem PLC and retail chain Boots Group PLC, has around 3,000 Boots drugstores in Britain, seven other European countries and Thailand.
On the distribution side, the company supplies more than 125,000 pharmacies, health centres and hospitals.
