Pharmacy chain Alliance Boots plans to buy a 12 per cent stake in China’s Nanjing Pharmaceutical Co for about £56 million (€69 million), it said in a statement yesterday.

Alliance Boots will become the second-largest shareholder in an alliance between the two companies. Nanjing is the fifth-biggest drug wholesaler in China, with sales of £2 billion last year. The deal will allow Nanjing to “improve its management practices, achieve greater performance and help China’s medical industry reach global standards”, said its chairman, Zhou Yaoping.

Walgreen, the biggest US drug store operator, said in June it agreed to buy 45 per cent of Alliance Boots from owners including private-equity firm KKR and Alliance Boots chairman Stefano Pessina. – (Bloomberg)