Abbott CEO White still interested in fresh acquisitions

Abbott Labs spent more than $10 billion on new acquisitions last year, but the company's CEO says his appetite for buyouts has yet to be completely sated.

"We're obviously focused on the integration preparation for Solvay when it closes," says CEO Miles White (photo). "I don't in any way think that that consumes our activity so much that we're unprepared for anything else. I wouldn't tell you that we're so busy and at capacity that we can't do anything else."

Abbott paid $3 billion for Advanced Medical Optics and $6.6 billion for the prescription drug business of Solvay. But White declined to say what might attract Abbott's interests now, indicating only that the company is very interested in emerging markets.

- read the story from the Chicago Tribune