Alliance Boots has bought two Latin American pharmacy chains worth more than £800 million, it announced this week (May 6).

The acquisition of Farmacias Ahumada in Chile and Farmacias Benavides in Mexico will take the number of stores owned by Alliance Boots in Latin America to more than 1,400, the health and beauty giant said.

The deal is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2014 and would give Alliance Boots a "major presence in the attractive Latin American market", said executive chairman Stefano Pessina.

The acquisition would allow Mexican and Chilean customers to buy Boots products, including its skincare and cosmetics ranges, says executive chairman Stefano Pessina	More on Boots Boots buys family-run pharmacy chain We need 'right level of reward' for services, says Boots boss Dispensing hub will not lead to redundancies, says Boots
	"The well-positioned retail pharmacy businesses will be a great additions to our group's unique portfolio of retail, product and service brands around the world," he said.

The deal would allow Mexican and Chilean customers to buy Boots products, including its skincare and cosmetics ranges, he added.

Farmacias Ahumada has around 400 outlets in 98 cities across Chile, while Farmacias Benavides has around 1,000 stores in more than 150 Mexican cities. The companies have combined revenues of around £835m and employ more than 11,000 people between them.

Alliance Boots had already signed the deal, which will see the company launch a cash tender for the outstanding shares of the two companies, it said.

Alliance Boots currently has a presence in more than 25 countries and operates pharmacy-led health and beauty retail businesses in nine countries. Last year, it announced it had missed out on a sixth year of double-digit trading profit growth, but hailed its 6.1 per cent increase to £1.3 billion as a strong performance in a challenging market.

In 2012, US pharmacy chain Walgreens entered into a £4.27bn (US$6.7bn) cash and stock deal to acquire a 45 per cent stake in Alliance Boots.

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