Sainsbury's has agreed to sell its pharma business to LloydsPharmacy
THE owner of LloydsPharmacy will have to sell 12 outlets in order to get the green light to buy Sainsbury's £125 million pharmacies business, the UK's competition watchdog has said.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it found 12 areas where German healthcare firm Celesio, which owns LloydsPharmacy, and Sainsbury's operate sites that are so close to one another that the takeover would damage competition and give consumers less choice.
Sainsbury's agreed to sell the business, which it launched more than 20 years ago, to Celesio last July.
LloydsPharmacy is the UK's second biggest chain behind Boots with around 1,540 outlets, while Sainsbury's has 277 sites.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here