{"id":613204,"date":"2026-09-03T13:33:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T13:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/613204\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T13:33:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T13:33:19","slug":"competition-watchdog-investigating-healthcare-giants-takeover-of-limerick-tech-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/613204\/","title":{"rendered":"Competition watchdog investigating healthcare giant&#8217;s takeover of Limerick tech company"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.live95fm.ie\/news\/live95-news\/\" class=\"c-btn c-btn--small c-btn--secondary-fill\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        All Live95 News<br \/>\n    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aiir-c-news-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6a993ff0e34d48cc369.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/>\n                                    Via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"aiir-c-news-article__abstract\">\n            An in-depth investigation has been opened into healthcare giant Uniphar&#8217;s takeover of Limerick tech firm TouchStore.\n        <\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"2\">The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) confirmed today that it will carry out a full Phase 2 review of the completed deal.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\">TouchStore, which is headquartered in Limerick, builds dispensing and management software used by pharmacies right across the country.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\">Uniphar is one of Ireland\u2019s major pharmaceutical wholesalers and controls retail brands like Allcare, McCauley, and Hickey&#8217;s Pharmacy.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">The deal was first announced back in January. Even though it fell below the financial mark where notification is mandatory, consumer watchdog officials stepped in using powers to &#8216;call in&#8217; smaller deals over market dominance concerns.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\">The CCPC says local software platforms are essential to keeping independent pharmacy networks competitive.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\">Because Uniphar already completed the purchase before notifying regulators in April, strict interim orders have been put in place.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\">The watchdog is forcing both Uniphar and Limerick-based TouchStore to run as completely separate, independent businesses while inspectors examine if the takeover reduces fair competition in the Irish market.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8\">The CCPC says its review will focus on protecting everyday consumers from price hikes, lower quality, or reduced software choice.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8\">As the investigation is ongoing, the CCPC is unable to share any further information.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/onic-player\/id6747436925?ppid=49bb71e2-4823-448e-b0e8-311158962de3\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788442399_637_68da98f76f434.png\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Live95 News Via Getty Images An in-depth investigation has been opened into healthcare giant Uniphar&#8217;s takeover of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103,397,396,61,60,608,611,607,610,609,612],"class_list":["post-613204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-limerick-radio","tag-limerick-today","tag-limericks-live95fm","tag-live-95","tag-live95fm","tag-live95fm-homepage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}