Kohlberg Kravis Roberts’ recommended £11.1bn bid for Alliance Boots has been dealt a blow by a £1bn demand from its pension fund trustees. Daily Telegraph. Financial Times. The Guardian. BBC

Chairman of the trustees John Watson has requested the payment because of the 'substantial increase in borrowings envisaged' that could jeopardise scheme members’ entitlements.

AB Acquisitions, the bidding vehicle controlled by KKR and Alliance Boots’s largest shareholder and deputy executive chairman chairman, Stefano Pessina, is estimated to be funding the bid with £8bn of debt.

The trustees have estimated the funding deficit at £1bn, which they want to be met 'by a combination of a cash injection to be paid over a number of years and appropriate new security'.