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Boots and Walgreens
博姿药房与沃尔格林药房
A new prescription
新处方
Two huge pharmacy chains become even bigger
两家大型医药连锁规模变得更大了
OTHER American executives may be fretting about Europe.
其他美国总裁们还可能在担忧欧洲的状况，
Not so Greg Wasson, the chief executive of Walgreens, America's biggest pharmacy chain.
但美国最大的医药连锁沃尔格林药房总裁Greg Wasson不以为然。
On June 19th his firm said it would buy 45% of Alliance Boots, Europe's largest player in the drugs-distribution business.
6月19日该公司宣布将购入欧洲最大的药品经销商英国联合博姿药房45％的股份。
And the $6.7 billion bid is only the first half of a bigger deal.
而这67亿美元的出价仅仅是整个收购计划的上半场罢了。
If all goes as planned, Walgreens will pay about $9.5 billion for the rest of Alliance Boots within three years—creating what the bosses of both firms call the first global pharmacy-led health and well-being enterprise.
如果一切按计划进行，沃尔格林药房在三年内可再付95亿美元将剩下的股份一并收购。这将创造两家公司总裁称之为"第一家全球性医药和保健企业"
The merged firm will indeed be more global than any pharmacy chain before.
合并后的企业的确将比任何一家医药连锁都要全球化。
Walgreens has 8,000 stores in America, with sales of $72 billion in fiscal 2011.
沃尔格林药房在美国拥有8000家门户，2011财年销售额为720亿美元。
Alliance Boots is a giant in Europe and beyond.
联合博姿药房是欧洲及其它地区的巨头。
The firm, which generated sales of 25 billion in fiscal 2011, operates in more than 25 countries and has more than 3,000 pharmacies.
2011财年完成销售达250亿英镑，在超过25个国家经营业务，门店超过3000家。
Together, Walgreens and Alliance Boots will be the world's biggest buyer of prescription drugs.
加在一起，沃尔格林药房和联合博姿药房将是世界上最大的处方药采购商。
For Walgreens, the deal follows a fitful year.
对沃尔格林药房来说，这次收购发生在不太顺利的一年里。
A spat with Express Scripts, which manages drug costs for employers, meant that Express Scripts' customers had to fill their prescriptions elsewhere.
和管理雇主药品成本的Express Scripts公司分道扬镳，意味着Express Scripts的顾客需要在其他公司购买处方药。
Sales in the most recent quarter were 3.4% lower than in the same period last year, and the number of prescriptions filled dropped by 8.4%.
销售额在最近的一季度同比下跌3.4%，处方药销售数量下降8.4%。
Although too big to be considered a direct response to these problems, the deal with Alliance Boots gives Walgreens a path to growth after this rough patch.
这次收购的金额显示这应该不是仅仅对这次分家的回应，而这次收购也给经过这次颠簸的沃尔格林药房指向了一条发展的明路。
As for Boots, it is best known for its ubiquity in Britain.
而博姿药房则在英国以无所不在而闻名。
In 2006 it merged with Alliance UniChem, a European drugs wholesaler and distributor.
2006年博姿药房并购了欧洲的药品批发经销商Alliance UniChem。
One year later Stefano Pessina, the firm's executive chairman, and KKR, a private-equity firm, took the company private.
一年后公司执行主席Stefano Pessina与私募KKR公司一起将公司私有化。
The leveraged buy-out, which was worth 11.1 billion, remains Europe's biggest.
通过价值111亿英镑的杠杆收购后，这单收购至今仍是欧洲最大的。
The deal with Walgreens fulfils Mr Pessina's ambition to bring Boots to America.
这次收购完成了Pessina带领博姿药房进入美国的雄心壮志。
The country's drugs market is the world's biggest and has formidable established pharmacy chains, including, in addition to Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid.
美国的药品市场是世界上最大的，同时也存在大得令人可怕的医药连锁商。
It would be suicide to come in and compete with these guys, Mr Pessina told your correspondent in May. Now he does not have to.
除沃尔格林药房外，还有CVS和Rite Aid。五月份Pessina跟您的记者描述，"进入这个市场跟这些人竞争简直就是自杀。"现在他或许不再需要了。
The benefits of the merger are many, at least according to Messrs Wasson and Pessina.
并购的好处有很多，至少根据Messrs Wasson和Pessina的说法。
They say that they will use their combined expertise and strength to streamline distribution and squeeze discounts from generic drugmakers.
他们将发挥联合以后的专业和特长以流程化配送并从通用制药商榨取更多折扣。
Boots will be able to sell its products, such as the No7 beauty line, at Walgreens' American stores.
博姿药房将获许在沃尔格林药房的商店销售自己的产品例如No7系列化妆品。
Walgreens, meanwhile, will benefit from Boots's product-development teams and global reach.
沃尔格林药房与此同时也将从博姿药房的产品开发团队和全球化。
Even without additional deals, the merged firm hopes to reach revenues of $130 billion by 2016, with about one-third coming from operations outside the United States.
哪怕该并购没有进入第二阶段，公司合并后营业额在2016年度将有望达到1300亿美元，其中大约三分之一来自在美国外的业务。
Not everybody is convinced.
但并不是所有人都信服。
It is hardly an opportune time to invest in Europe, sceptics say.
持怀疑态度的称，现在并不是一个投资欧洲的机会。
Walgreens's share price dipped by 5.9% on the day of the announcement.
沃尔格林药房股票在宣布当天下跌5.9%。
Standard & Poor's, a ratings agency, worries about the debt Walgreens will shoulder.
标普对沃尔格林药房所承担的债务表示担忧。
In the first stage of the deal the firm will assume $3.5 billion;
在收购的第一阶段，该公司将记帐35亿美元债务。
in the second stage it will take on the rest of Alliance Boots's outstanding debt, which amounted to more than 7 billion in March.
在第二阶段，该公司将承担联合博姿药房所有的债务。截至今年三月份为止，金额达70亿英镑。
The debate about the merits of the deal is likely to go on for some time.
对这场收购有点的争论必定将持续一段时间。
Yet there is already one clear winner.
但现已有一位赢家。
KKR invested 1.2 billion in 2007.
KKR在2007年投资了12亿英镑。
In the first stage of the Walgreens deal, KKR will receive 1.2 billion and 140m in shares.
而在沃尔格林药房收购的第一阶段，KKR将获得12亿英镑现金和价值1亿4千万英镑的股份。
If the full acquisition proceeds as expected, the American firm will more than double its money—not bad for an investment framed by a financial collapse and the euro crisis.
如果整个收购方案按计划进行，这家美国公司将使其投资翻番。对于一个在金融坍塌和欧元危机的大条件下，这份投资还是不错的。
