Walgreens to raise curtain on partnership with Alliance Boots February 11, 2013 US pharmacy giant Walgreens and Alliance Boots are to meet with investors and analysts in the City tomorrow to update on the progress of its merger that will see the creation the world’s largest pharmacy group. The meeting, which will be followed by a site visit to Boots’ headquarters in Nottingham, led to speculation this [...]
Boots boss Alex Gourlay to move across the pond August 14, 2013 ALLIANCE Boots’ health and beauty boss Alex Gourlay has been promoted to lead a similar division at its larger American partner Walgreens, as the two companies move closer towards a merger. Gourlay will join Walgreens as executive vice president and president of customer experience and Daily Living, starting at its Chicago headquarters in October, the [...]
Parcels deliver Royal Mail’s future September 24, 2013 THE PRIVATISATION of Royal Mail started to become a likely event in May this year after the restructured group posted profits of £403m, up from £152m the previous year. “When we saw that profit margins had gone from around one per cent to 4.4 per cent we realised that the time was right to act,” [...]
Alliance Boots buying stake in Chinese firm September 16, 2012 ALLIANCE Boots, the owner of Europe’s largest pharmacy chain, announced yesterday it will buy a 12 per cent stake in China’s Nanjing Pharmaceutical at a cost of around £56m. The deal, initially announced more than a year ago, will strengthen Alliance Boots’ ties with China’s government and regulators. Alliance Boots executive chairman Stefano Pessina, who [...]
Alliance Boots buying stake in Chinese firm September 16, 2012 ALLIANCE Boots, the owner of Europe’s largest pharmacy chain, announced yesterday it will buy a 12 per cent stake in China’s Nanjing Pharmaceutical at a cost of around £56m. The deal, initially announced more than a year ago, will strengthen Alliance Boots’ ties with China’s government and regulators. Alliance Boots executive chairman Stefano Pessina, who [...]
David Montgomery eyes Lepe back into the newspaper world November 8, 2012 It would be no exaggeration to say that the boutique investment banks are hurting due to the dearth of deal activity but in their favour they have increased their market share of deals and every so often they pop up quite spectacularly when one is least expecting them. Hence when BP bought (and then later [...]
City A.M. Awards 2012 Winners October 17, 2012 City A.M.'s third annual awards celebrating the best and brightest of London's business, financial and investment communities. Over 500 guests from 116 different firms attended the celebration, held at the Grange Hotel in St Paul's. PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR Lord CoeLocog chairman Former Olympic middle distance runner and politician Lord Coe was a clear stand-out [...]
M&A in Europe crashes to hit a ten-year low September 20, 2012 EUROPEAN merger and acquisition activity crashed to a 10-year low in the third quarter of the year, as dealmaking across the world fell to its slowest level since the depths of the financial crisis, figures out today show. M&A in Europe has totalled $84.2bn (£52bn) so far in the three months to the end of [...]
ADVISERS June 19, 2012 RICHARD GIRLING CENTERVIEW PARTNERS WALGREENS’ purchase of Alliance Boots involved two very different firms: Goldman Sachs and Centerview Partners. On this side of the Atlantic it represents an impressive coup for Centerview’s Richard Girling, a sector specialist who holds an MA in biochemistry from Oxford University. He helped set up Merrill Lynch’s European healthcare business in the [...]
Walgreens in bid to attract UK investors June 24, 2012 AMERICAN pharmacy Walgreens will kick off a series of high-level meetings with UK investors today in a bid to increase institutional interest in the US-listed company, following its £4.3bn initial takeover deal with Alliance Boots. Chief executive Gregory Wasson has arrived in the country to sound out institutional investors, such as large UK pension funds, [...]