Alliance Boots GmbH, the largest U.K. drugstore chain, will buy a 12 percent stake in China’s Nanjing Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. (600713) for about 56 million pounds ($91 million), it said in a statement today. Alliance Boots will become the second-largest shareholder as part of a strategic alliance between the two companies. Nanjing Pharmaceutical Company is the fifth-biggest drugs wholesaler in China with sales of 2 billion pounds last year, Boots said in the announcement. The deal will allow the Nanjing, China-based company to “improve its management practices, achieve greater performance, and help China’s medical industry reach global standards,” said its chairman, Zhou Yaoping.
