Medical supplier McKesson Corp. (NYSE: MCK) has agreed to buy UDG Healthcare plc’s (LON: UDG) pharmacy division in Ireland for €408 million (U.S. $463 million) in cash.
The acquired assets include United Drug Sanders in Ireland along with Masta in the United Kingdom. United Drug Sanders supplies wholesale health care products to pharmaceutical retailers while Masta sells influenza vaccines.
UDG, a whole pharmaceutical supplier based in Dublin, Ireland, says the divestiture is part of the company’s strategy to focus on UDG’s more profitable businesses. The company will use part of the sale proceeds to pay down debt.
“We have made this investment as part of our growth strategy which leverages the positive trajectory of the wider health care sector in Europe,” says Celesio AG Chairman Marc Owen, a unit of McKesson.
In July, San Francisco-based McKesson agreed to buy 281 pharmacies in the United Kingdom from J Sainsbury plc (LON: SBRY) for $195 million.
Other buyers that have been picking up pharmaceutical-related targets lately including CVS Health Corp. (NYSE: CVS) purchasing Target Corp.'s pharmacies (NYSE: TGT) and UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s OptumRx buying Catamaran Corp., a provider of pharmacy benefit management services.