Auction ends Swedish pharmacy monopolySweden sold 465 of its estimated 900 state-owned pharmacies to four firms for 5.9 billion kronor (572 million euros, 856 million dollars), authorities said Monday, ending a 36-year-old monopoly. All the winning bids were placed by Swedish companies This is a list of Swedish companies: Companies
Christian Jebsen, a public relations officer public relations officer n → encargado/a de relaciones públicas public relations officer n → responsable m/f des relations publiques for the agency in charge of deregulating de·reg·u·late tr.v. de·reg·u·lat·ed, de·reg·u·lat·ing, de·reg·u·lates To free from regulation, especially to remove government regulations from: deregulate the airline industry. the pharmacy market, told AFP (1) (AppleTalk Filing Protocol) The file sharing protocol used in an AppleTalk network. In order for non-Apple networks to access data in an AppleShare server, their protocols must translate into the AFP language. See file sharing protocol. there were international bidders for the auction but would not name any firms or countries. The Financial Times said Monday that Alliance Boots Alliance Boots Limited is a British based pharmaceuticals company, operating as a high street retailer, pharmacist and pharmaceuticals wholesaler. Alliance Boots is the dominant pharmacy chain in Britain with a 17% market share[1]. , Europe's largest pharmacy group, was among "the bidders poised to learn this week whether it had been successful in an auction for part of Sweden's monopoly pharmaceutical retailer." The Apoteket chain of pharmacies is currently the sole provider of prescription medication in Sweden, and was until this month also the only provider of non-prescription drugs such as headache tablets or other over-the-counter products. As of November 1, Swedes This is a list of well known Swedes, ordered alphabetically within categories: Actors Main article: List of Swedish actors
Under the new, deregulated, structure Apoteket will still operate "around 300 (pharmacies) of a little bit over 900 pharmacies," in Sweden, Jebsen said, adding the state-owned stores would still have "a substantial share of the market." Firms could start operating pharmacies under their own brand names "sometime early next year, maybe January or February," Jebsen said, adding the acquisitions still had to be approved by the country's competition authority and its medical products agency. The Swedish government has previously argued that putting an end to the Apoteket monopoly would improve the availability of medicines for customers in the form of more pharmacies and longer opening hours opening hours open npl → heures fpl d'ouverture opening hours open npl → Öffnungszeiten pl , and create downward pressure on prices as more providers entered the market. It had expected both domestic and international interest in the Swedish pharmacy market. 
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