U.S. drugs wholesaler McKesson raised its offer for German peer Celesio to about 6.2 billion euros ($8.4 billion) including debt, mollifying an activist hedge fund that had been blocking the deal.McKesson increased its bid to 23.50 euros per Celesio share from the 23 euros it offered in October, the San Francisco-based company said on Thursday.The U.S. firm is seeking to forge a global leader in drugs distribution to boost its bargaining power with big pharmaceutical companies such as Novartis and Teva , in what could be the largest health-sector takeover in Germany in eight years.McKesson, the largest U.S. drugs distributor and its closest rivals AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health, who command a combined 95 percent U.S. market share, have all been looking to team up with pharmacy chains or to grow abroad.
Cardinal Health, Inc. is a healthcare services company providing products and services that help pharmacies, hospitals, surgery centers, physician offices and other healthcare providers. Shares of CAH traded higher by 1.51% or $1.0147/share to $68.04. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $41.42 and as high as $67.84. On average, 2996470 shares of CAH exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1775056.
Source
