Unichem Bid For Lloyds Chemists Referred

11 March 1996

The UK government has made an unexpected move in the battle for the Lloyds Chemist group by referring the bid by UniChem (Marketletters passim) to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. There was also a call for the European Commission to allow the UK government to examine the rival bid made by Gehe of Germany.

This is only the second time that the UK Department of Trade and Industry has requested a merger case to be referred back from the EC to the UK, reports the Financial Times. It would appear that the retail side of either proposed merger is not the problem, but that the drug wholesale business is. It is understood that either deal would take the wholesale market stake to over 25%. Any takeover is likely to be held up now for some four months.

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