Alliance Boots is the subject of a takeover bid by a second private equity group it emerged as Optician went to press.
As reported in Optician, (News, March 16), the company's board had rejected a £9.7bn takeover bid from its deputy chairman Stefano Pessina and private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. During an emergency meeting the directors of Alliance Boots had said that they would not be putting the offer to shareholders because the offer did not represent the full value of the company.
According to published reports this week there is potential new takeover bid being explored by UK private equity group Terra Firma who are looking at making a £10bn offer. Both parties declined to comment on this development, as Optician went to press.
However, an Alliance Boots insider told the Daily Telegraph earlier this week, that the board would welcome a counter bidder: 'I think the board are well aware - because of Pessina being involved in the bid - if that were to progress there is a concern that shareholders get full value. I suppose the only way is if there are other people involved. I would have thought that the board wouldn't be averse to other bidders.'
Alliance Boots has around 2,600 healthcare outlets in the UK, including stand-alone optical outlets around the country.
In a separate development, as Optician went to press, Alliance Boots announced it planned to spend £65m to rebrand its UK pharmacies, including the optical practices within them. A company spokeswoman told Optician that plans relating to the stand-alone optical outlets were still in the pipeline. 'More information on plans for the optical stores will be available in the next two weeks.'