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DUBLIN Ohio December 13 2010 --Say goodbye to Kinray, the service-obsessed regional drug wholesaler. But say hello to a more muscular and diversified Cardinal Health.
The wholesale and health services giant announced Nov. 18 it will buy Kinray for $1.3 billion. The buyout, set for completion in early 2011, will be a boon to Cardinal, boosting its customer base to more than 7,000 independent drug stores, extending its reach in the Northeast and adding scale versus its wholesale rivals, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen.
Equally important, the addition of Kinray's 2,000 independent customers in the New York/New Jersey metro area propels the company ahead in its efforts to diversify its customer base, which in recent years has become precariously dependent on two chain pharmacy giants, Walgreens and CVS, for half of its distribution revenues.
"The acquisition grows [Cardinal's] base of customers by [more than] 40%," said...