The Hindu Business Line : Global merger not to change Boots Piramal operations

BOOTS Piramal Healthcare Pvt Ltd will not see a change in its India operations following the global proposal to merge British pharmacy groups Boots Group Plc and Alliance Unichem Plc.

The global merger relates to Boots' retail business and this does not include the sale of Boots Healthcare International, which is currently on the block.

The India operations will not be affected as Boots Healthcare is still up for sale, independent of today's merger, an industry representative familiar with the development told Business Line.

Earlier, Boots Group Plc and Alliance UniChem Plc said they would merge to create a 2,600-store healthcare giant with sales in excess of £13 billion. This would be subject to approvals from shareholders and competition regulators, besides any counter bids from competitors, agency reports from London said.

The Boots Piramal venture in India is a 51:49 joint-venture between Boots Plc and Nicholas Piramal India Ltd. The company saw its net sales decline by 14.5 per cent to Rs 65 crore in the financial year 2005.

For sale: Boots Healthcare International is the maker of Strepsils, Nurofen and Clearasil and the company was put up for sale in April this year. Global companies believed to be in the race for the healthcare company include drug major GlaxoSmithKline Plc, household goods company Reckitt Benckiser and German drug and chemical group Bayer AG.

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