Bergen Brunswig May Have Lost Bid to Take Over Competitor

ORANGE — Bergen Brunswig Corp. on Friday escalated its campaign to take over a competing pharmaceuticals distributor, but the effort may have come too late: Another suitor for Durr-Fillauer said it has already won the war.

Bob Walters, chief executive of Cardinal Distribution Inc. in Dublin, Ohio, said his company has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Alabama-based Durr-Fillauer in a stock swap valued at about $450 million, to be completed by September.

But in a letter to Durr-Fillauer’s directors, Bergen Brunswig Chairman Robert E. Martini warned the company not to sign a deal with Cardinal before considering Bergen Brunswig’s offer.

The letter did not spell out Bergen Brunswig’s proposal. An earlier offer was valued at $26 a share, or about $365 million.

Bergen Brunswig has asked a judge in Delaware, where Durr-Fillauer is incorporated, to block the Cardinal deal.

The pact between Durr-Fillauer and Cardinal differs from one announced on June 1. In the initial agreement, Cardinal would have taken over Durr-Fillauer’s drug distribution division but would have spun off its medical-supplies unit. Under the revised proposal, Durr-Fillauer would keep its name and its Montgomery, Ala., headquarters but would become a wholly owned subsidiary of Cardinal.