The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7216 p386
21 September 2002

This article
Reprint
Photocopy

News summary

Related websites
Alliance UniChem (more)

UniChem's £88m for acquisitions

Alliance UniChem has raised £88m through a share placing. It intends to use the money to acquire further pharmacy and wholesaling businesses across Europe.

Jeff Harris, chairman of Alliance UniChem, told The Journal that during the first half of 2002 the company had made more acquisitions in continental Europe than in the United Kingdom, the reverse of its normal position.

"The Office of Fair Trading is casting a shadow over the UK market and we have only been making strategic acquisitions here," he said. "Once the OFT's report on control of entry is out of the way we will be more active. It is difficult to second guess the OFT, but while we expect some liberalisation of the market, we do not expect anything cataclysmic."

Alliance UniChem currently owns 975 pharmacies, of which 773 are in the UK.

Mr Harris denied press speculation that the company was aiming to be more aggressive in its approach, particularly through acquisitions in Germany.

Alliance UniChem will enter the FTSE 100 index of Britain's leading companies this month. The company reported pre-tax profits of £76.9m on a turnover of £3.9bn for the six months to 30 June 2002.