Harney to be given Unicare ruling today

The Tánaiste will be told today whether the Competition Authority approves the purchase of the Unicare pharmacy chain by Gehe, the German group.

The opinion of the authority is not known, although a person close to the deal believed it was likely to be sanctioned. The person believed any conditions suggested by the authority would be minimal.

Ms Harney is not obliged to adopt the authority's report but she can take whatever action she considers necessary for the common good. She is expected to forward the authority's report to interested parties and their advisers this week. Elements of the report that contain commercially sensitive information will be deleted.

A final decision is expected within a month.

When asking the authority to investigate the acquisition, Ms Harney said the deal would create the largest pharmacy chain in the State and in Dublin. She also noted that Gehe owned Cahill May Roberts, the second-largest wholesale pharmacy supplier in the State.

Gehe is understood to have paid €127 million (£100 million) up front for the 29 pharmacies in the chain early in November.

The deal is also understood to embrace a €25.4 million earn-out clause linked to profits this year and next.

The group entered the Irish retail pharmacy market last May when it acquired nine outlets owned by Crowley's Pharmacies. It followed the Unicare deal with the purchase in December of the Ryan's chain in Limerick, which has eight outlets. Neither the Crowley nor Ryan deal was referred to the authority by Ms Harney.

The Competition Authority and the Tánaiste are known to have strong views on the structure of the pharmacy sector.

When an OECD report on regulatory reform in the Republic was published last April, she said the pharmacy sector was one which should be deregulated within the lifetime of the Government. That has not yet happened and with the general election considered likely to take place in May, no major development is expected.

For its part, the authority has argued there is little or no competitition in the wholesale and retail markets.

The authority is known to have carried out oral hearings on the takeover this month. It also sought submissions from any other interested party.