Terra Firma Partners, led by financier Guy Hands, and Wellcome Trust, the medical research charity, have appointed Lehman Brothers to act as their financial adviser on a possible £10bn-plus bid for Alliance Boots, reports The Times. The groups made an approach to Alliance Boots’s board over the Easter weekend and are understood to have since been granted access to the company’s accounts. Detailed due diligence is likely to begin within the next two days. Terra Firma and Wellcome Trust are competing with KKR and Stefano Pessina, the company’s deputy executive chairman and owner of 15 per cent of its shares. Celesio, of Germany, is also interested in Alliance Boots but is not thought to have gained private equity backing and would face regulatory problems in the event of a formal bid. Lex views Wellcome’s interest in direct ownership of Boots with “suspicion”. Wellcome may not only be conflicted as it presumably owns shares in its equity portfolios, but as a charity, it should avoid the allure of direct investing, Lex says.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Wednesday, April 11th, 2007 at 5:40 and is filed under Capital markets, M&A, Private equity. Tagged with alliance boots, celesio, kkr, terra firma, wellcome trust. Edit this entry.