McKesson Asia Pacific to be sold to Medibank Private

McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK), the world's leading healthcare services company, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its McKesson Asia Pacific business to Medibank Private Ltd., the largest private health services and insurer in Australia. The acquisition is expected to close in the second calendar quarter of 2010, subject to customary conditions, including regulatory review in Australia.

“This was a unique opportunity to join two highly successful partners”

McKesson Asia Pacific (MAP) is a leading provider of phone- and Web-based healthcare services, including telephone triage, health and wellness advice, chronic disease management and mental health services in Australia and New Zealand. Founded in 1995 and acquired by McKesson in 2000, MAP has grown to be a core part of the healthcare systems of those two countries. Medibank is an existing MAP customer and offers many complementary services to its customers.

The divestiture is the result of an unsolicited offer from Medibank, and McKesson will continue to have a presence in the Asia Pacific region through distribution of the company's other product offerings and its sourcing operations. Under the arrangement, McKesson Asia Pacific will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Health Services Australia Pty Limited, which is a subsidiary of Medibank.

"This was a unique opportunity to join two highly successful partners," said Emad Rizk, MD, President, McKesson Health Solutions. "McKesson Asia Pacific has delivered telephonic health management programs in Australia and New Zealand serving both the national and state governments of those countries over the past five years. We have also served Medibank's members with chronic care services and are excited about Medibank's potential to leverage the MAP business to provide even more of their members with access to high quality, convenient healthcare services."

The transaction is a share purchase. At the close, Medibank will own 100 percent of the shares in McKesson Asia Pacific. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.