英国药物零售商Boots集团计划与Alliance UniChem合并，后者为横跨欧洲市场的大型医药零售批发公司。这也是英国Boots集团全球扩张计划的第1步，该公司未来的业务范围将扩展到亚洲及美国市场。

    据美国《纽约时报》10月3日报道，通过此次合并，Boots－Alliance UniChem公司的市场资本将达到123亿美元，旗下欧洲市场的零售连锁店数量将超过2600家，与此同时在欧洲药品批发市场上的实力也得到了大幅度的提升。两家公司的合并完成称得上珠联璧合，Boots公司在药品市场上拥有的良好品牌再加上UniChem的迅速发展，未来的Boots－UniChem无疑将得到消费者更多的青睐。

    Boots集团创始者为约翰·布特斯。1849年，当时的农夫布特斯创建了最初作为草药商店的Boots。时过境迁，如今的Boots集团旗下的英国连锁店数量已经超过了1400家。在英国市场以外，Boots还进行保健及美容产品的销售，市场涵盖全球400多个地区。然而随着医药市场的竞争日益加剧，Boots感受到了前所未有的压力。据统计，去年该公司的利润下滑了11％。

    合并的另一方，Alliance UniChem公司目前在英国、意大利、荷兰及挪威等国家拥有的药房数量多达1200个，并且为欧洲市场上10万所医院及保健中心提供药品。Alliance UniChem公司始建于1997年，当时UniChem与Alliance Sante公司的合并诞生了今天的Alliance UniChem。据分析家提供的统计数据，去年Alliance UniChem公司的销量增长率为1.1％，达到157亿美元，与此同时盈利却激增了43％，达到1.8亿美元。

    报道说，如果合并顺利实施，合并后的公司将名为Alliance Boots，并且旗下的医药用品将延续Boots的悠久品牌。据分析家估算，合并后的Alliance Boots公司将占据英国零售医药市场份额的18％，而在批发市场的占有率将达到40％。另一方面，合并后的Boots公司当前领导将延续顶级领导的地位，与此同时Alliance UniChem的领导层将主要负责合并后公司的未来运营策略。

    Boots, the British drug store chain, plans to merge with Alliance UniChem, the European drug retailer and wholesaler, in the first step of a global expansion plan that will include Asia and the United States, two executives briefed on the talks said Sunday.

    The deal, which is being negotiated as a merger of equals, could be announced as soon as Monday, the executives said. It would create a company with a market capitalization of ? 7 billion ($12.3 billion), 2,600 retail outlets across Europe and a strong presence in the European wholesale drug market. It would pair Boots' well-respected brand name with Alliance UniChem's history of strategic growth.

    Boots, which was founded by John Boot, a farmer, in 1849 as an herbal remedy shop, now has 1,400 stores in Britain. Heavy competition is putting a damper on the chain's growth, and profit fell 11 percent last year. Last week, the company said it expected second-quarter sales to grow 1.1 percent in its retail stores.

    Outside of Britain, the company sells Boots-brand heath and beauty products in 400 international locations, including Target stores in the United States.

    Alliance UniChem has 1,200 pharmacies in Britain, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway, and distributes drugs to 100,000 pharmacies, hospitals and health care centers in Europe.

    The company was formed in 1997 through the merger of UniChem and Alliance Santé, a wholesale drug company. Alliance UniChem reported sales growth of 1.1 percent in 2004, to ?8.9 billion ($15.7 billion), and a 43 percent increase in profits, to ?102.1 million ($180 million).

    If the deal is completed, the new company will be named Alliance Boots, and its retail stores will carry the Boots brand name. British regulators are expected to study the merger closely, and it may be six to nine months before they approve any deal, one executive briefed on the negotiations said.

    Together, Boots, based in Nottingham, England, and Alliance UniChem, based in Weybridge, England, would control about 18 percent of the British retail pharmaceutical market and 40 percent of the wholesale market.

    Boots executives would get the top spots at the combined company, but Alliance UniChem's managers would be responsible for much of the company's strategic operations, the two executives briefed on the talks said. Boots' chairman, Sir Nigel Rudd, and its chief executive, Richard Baker, are set to retain those titles at the combined company.

    Alliance UniChem's deputy chairman, Stefano Pessina, who founded the Alliance Santé group in Italy in 1977 and owns 32 percent of Alliance UniChem, would be deputy chairman and in charge of strategy, integration and further acquisitions at the new company. The 13-member board would be composed of seven Alliance UniChem executives and six Boots executives.

    Boots is currently the larger of the two companies by more than ?1 billion, but is in the process of selling Boots Healthcare International, a portfolio of over-the-counter medicines that includes the painkillers Nurofen and Strepesils, the Clearasil skin care line and cold remedies. About six companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, are reviewing that business.