Friday, March 09, 2007

Wholesaler LBO Time

I can't leave for the weekend without highlighting this news story:
  • "Private-equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Alliance Boots PLC executive Stefano Pessina said Friday they had made a friendly takeover approach to the health and beauty company for 1,000 pence a share, or about $18.71 billion . . . Alliance Boots was created following the merger of U.K. health and beauty retailer Boots Group PLC and pan-European drugs distributor Alliance UniChem PLC in July."

So, who's next? The good folks at Starshak Winzenburg send me a monthly update on distribution stocks. Here is the enterprise value of the Big 3 US wholesalers according to their March 2007 Distribution News issue:

  • AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:ABC) = $9.9B
  • Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) = $29.2B
  • McKesson (NYSE:MCK) = $15.4B
Today's move by KKR may also make you re-consider the last paragraph of my February post Trouble Ahead for Independent Pharmacies. Any takers?

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