Putting the boot in

Boots’ planned tie-up with Alliance Unichem hasn’t got either set of investors terribly excited. Alliance – which is getting a small premium – should have outperformed. Instead, the opposite happened. Its stock has barely edged up, while shares in Boots, the rival UK chemist, closed up 4% after the deal was confirmed. Of course, it may just be that Alliance’s stock price included some bid froth already. Its shares rose 5.5% in the ten days prior to the merger, and had already had a good run. ...