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Uniphar buys Cahill May for E50m

Wednesday, November 14 10:17:47

Uniphar, the Irish-owned distributor and wholesaler to the pharmacy, healthcare and animal health sectors, said today that it has agreed to purchase the wholesale and pre-wholesale businesses of Cahill May Roberts, part of Celesio, for E50m.

The Doc Morris retail pharmacy chain is not part of the transaction.

"We are pleased about the potential that this deal offers. As both an Irish-owned and pharmacist-owned business, it is very important to us to be able to sustain our business and our cooperative ethos. It has become increasingly clear that the Irish market cannot sustain three full service wholesalers. This transaction will provide Uniphar with sufficient scale to enable us to better withstand the challenges of the market, including the patent cliff, HSE price reductions and the impending reference-pricing legislation," said Ger Rabbette, CEO of Uniphar plc.

The Uniphar Group, owned by independent Irish pharmacists, is focused on working in partnership with pharmacists and manufacturers to improve healthcare in Ireland, he added.

"The combined company will have a greatly enhanced customer base, broader national reach and the most sophisticated fulfilment and delivery network in the country, putting the Group in a stronger position to better serve independent community pharmacy," said Mr Rabbette.

Subject to the approval of the Competition Authority, it is expected that this deal will be completed in Q1 2013.