Pharmacy buys into China expansion

The deal will strengthen Alliance Boots’s ties with China’s government and regulators.

Alliance Boots executive chairman Stefano Pessina said China is committed to improving its healthcare sector.

Mr Pessina, who turned his family’s wholesale pharmaceutical company in Italy into a business empire through a series of mergers and acquisitions, is now eyeing 20-30 per cent of the Chinese pharmaceutical distribution market.

“In 10 years, I hope we will be one of the major players in China or we will be, together with other companies, part of one of the major players in China,” said Mr Pessina.

He added that the firm is likely to expand in Latin America through direct investments similar to its deal in China.

Alliance Boots will become Nanjing Pharma’s second-largest shareholder with board representation.