DLA Piper advises McKesson

DLA Piper has advised the US McKesson Corporation, and its German subsidiary Celesio AG, on the acquisition of the pharmaceutical distribution division of UDG Healthcare. The purchase price is 408 million euros.

Under the terms of the agreement with UDG, McKesson will acquire the following parts of the company: United Drug and United Drug Sangers, leading wholesale operations across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland; TCP, a leading home healthcare provider in the Republic of Ireland; and MASTA, UDG’s travel healthcare business based in the United Kingdom.

The transaction is subject to UDG shareholder approval and EU competition clearance, among other customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the first half of calendar year 2016.

More than 1,000 UDG employees will join McKesson as part of the acquisition. The acquired operations will be reported as part of McKesson’s International Pharmaceutical Distribution and Services business. The acquisition will add a leader in pharmaceutical distribution across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to McKesson’s European business.

The DLA Piper team was led by partner Benjamin Parameswaran (Corporate, Hamburg), and included partners Alexandra Kamerling (Litigation & Regulatory, London) and Jon Kenworthy (Corporate, London), as well as counsel Cristina Villafrade and senior associate Sebastian Decker (both Corporate, Hamburg).

In Ireland, DLA Piper worked with a cross-practice-group team from its partner law firm Mason, Hayes & Curran, which was led by partners David O´Donnell and Niall Collins. The Northern Ireland team consisted of Carson McDowell led by partner Neasa Quigley.

In this transaction, the legal in-house team of Celesio was led by Dr Leslie Melters, Group Legal Director of Celesio AG.

UDG was advised by A&L Goodbody led by partner David Widger.