When Fisher Scientific International agreed to buy PSS World Medical Inc. in an all-stock deal valued at roughly $840 million at the time of the announcement, PSS shareholders should have been content. After all, their company's stock was hovering at near-record lows in the wake of a disastrous year for PSS. But shareholders were cool, partly because they were unhappy with PSS' quarterly earnings report, announced the same day, partly because they didn't know Fisher, and partly because they were caught up in a web of arbitrage, which drove down the stocks of both companies 25%.Fisher, an international distributor of scientific supplies, sees PSS as a way to expand its customer and vendor bases and to take advantage of cross-channel opportunities. The companies don't have much product overlap, with PSS strong in alternate site markets and Fisher a force in research labs and acute care hospitals. Fisher is relatively unknown on Wall Street, because only 7% of its shares are publicly traded. And PSS, while reeling from a series of problems, has a healthy underlying business as the market leader in alternate site markets for hospital and lab supplies. Now, Fisher and PSS have to convince Wall Street that they mean business.

Bergen Brunswig Corp's recent announcement that it would sell the specialty pharmacy assets of its Stadtlander Drug Co. subsidiary hardly comes as a surprise. Stadtlander has performed poorly since it was acquired from Counsel Corp. eighteen months ago. Stadtlander is not alone: two other Bergen subsidiaries, PharMerica (which distributes drugs to long-term care facilities) and Bergen Brunswig Medical Corp., a supply business (which is also being sold), have also disappointed.If Bergen's expectations for Stadtlander were not met, say company officials, it was because Counsel's management misled them with respect to the specialty pharmacy's value. Indeed, Bergen sued Counsel, alleging that it was fraudulently induced into paying the price that it did for Stadtlander. That case is pending.So far, investors and analysts have reacted favorably to the Stadtlander sale. In addition to reducing Bergen's debt and eliminating a drag on earnings, parting with Stadtlander is seen as a way for Bergen to refocus its attentions on its core drug distribution business.