Casa Saba to buy Chilean drugstore chain Fasa in $498 million deal

Submitted by mexbiznews on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 4:54am

Dow Jones

Mexican pharmaceutical-products distributor Grupo Casa Saba will launch a public tender offer today, Wednesday, to acquire Chilean drug-store operator Farmacias Ahumada, or Fasa, in a deal valued at $498 million, plus debt.

In a filing with the Mexico City bourse, Casa Saba said it received authorization from the Federal Competition Commission, Mexico's antitrust regulator, for the deal.

The Mexican company will offer 1,642 Chilean pesos ($3.26) a share for all 150 million Fasa shares from Sept. 1 to Sept. 30, with the condition that more than half of the total shares are tendered.

Casa Saba, which plans to pay for the offer using cash and debt, has financing commitments from HSBC Holdings and Grupo Financiero Banorte's Banco Mercantil del Norte.

The combined company will "become the leading drugstore chain" in Latin America, with about 1,500 stores across Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Peru, and estimated revenue of about $4 billion.
online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100831-714007.html

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