This is about to be the biggest shakeup in Australian pharmacy...

This is about to be the biggest shakeup in Australian pharmacy history.

If DHL is serious about being an ongoing player in the distribution of pharmaceuticals and other consumer products to Australian pharmacies it now has no option other than to become a full line wholesaler. The fact that DHL has just done a deal with the Chemist Warehouse Group to deliver their high turnover OTCs and consumer lines tells me that that they are in Australia for the long haul and I would think that DHL would see acquiring Sigma as their best opportunity to gain he critical mass required to operate successfully as CSO player.

As an aside in terms of anticompetitive considerations DHL has a stronger positive case than the API/SIGMA merger as it would maintain the 3 major wholesalers.

There is clearly a lot of synergy in this API/Sigma merger proposal so the deal has a lot going for it in its own right but I believe above all it is a defensive move to prevent a Sigma takeover and potentially ASX listed DHL/Chemist Warehouse entry as conglomerate that has the potential to be an even bigger threat than they are already.

There are so many angles here that I will be very surprised if we don't have a counter bid that evokes a bidding war.

I also wonder what EBOS and their major shareholder Zeullig are thinking?