UK - Boots bidding war on

sarah
20 April 2007

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A bidding war has broken out for Alliance Boots, the FTSE 100 retail and pharmaceutical group. After KKR upped its offer for Alliance Boots to £10.90 per share in an attempt to see off a rival £10.85 per share bid from Terra Firma, Terra Firma trumpted it with an £11.15 per share indicative offer. The latest KKR offer had already been recommended by the board of Boots and was regarded by insiders as a knock out bid until Terra Firma's £11.15 swoop. Terra Firma, the private equity vehicle of Guy Hands is bidding in consortium with Wellcome Trust and HBOS. KKR has teamed up with the deputy chairman of Boots, Stefano Pessina who currently owns 15% of the listed-company.

The Terra Firma offer represents an enterprise value of £11.44bn for Alliance Boots, the company which was formed through a £7bn merger in 2006. Should it go ahead, the Boots buyout would be the largest private equity deal ever in the UK and Europe and the first fall of a FTSE 100 company to private equity. KKR's £10.90 per share offer is its third so far since the first offer in early March.