Australia clears Chemist Warehouse-Sigma Healthcare $5.8 billion deal
The Australian competition regulator, on Thursday, cleared privately owned pharmacy chain Chemist Warehouse's reverse takeover of Sigma Healthcare, paving the way to create an A$8.8 billion ($5.78 billion) entity after a year-long wait. Sigma's stock surged almost 40%, the most on the Australian benchmark index, to hit a record high. Chemist Warehouse had said roughly a year back it would buy Sigma for stock and A$700 million in cash, giving it a roughly 85% stake in the merged entity and a backdoor way to list on the stock exchange at a time when global capital markets were in the doldrums.