McKesson Corp still committed to proposed JV with Celesio
McKesson Corp, whose earlier bid was turned down due to no backing from the shareholders, has said that it will pursue a joint venture with Celesio.
The company launched a bid for the German drug distributor but the bid was not accepted it did not get enough shareholder support. San Francisco-based company said in a statement yesterday that McKesson was unable to get the backing of investors for 75 percent of Celesio's stock with an offer of 23.50 euros a share.
The largest U. S. drug distributor said that it has agreed to buy the 50.01 percent stake that was held by family-owned investment firm Franz Haniel & Cie GmbH for 23 euros a share and launched a tender offer for the remaining shares. The company has now increased the bid to a value of about 4 billion euros or about $5.4 billion.
The company is now planning to enter into a deal with Celesio, John H. Hammergren, chairman and chief executive officer, according to analysts. Stuttgart, Germany-based Celesio has 132 wholesale branches supplying 65,000 pharmacies and hospitals across 14 European countries.
Hammergren said, "Clearly a joint venture would be an alternative. We have been talking to Celesio for some time about various alternatives."