Boots unveiled its second major deal of the week after raising £1.93 billion from the sale of its business making Nurofen and Strepsils.

Reckitt Benckiser, the company behind consumer and household products such as Lemsip and Harpic, beat strong competition to win the auction, which raised more than City analysts had been expecting.

Proceeds of more than £1.4 billion from the sale of Boots Healthcare International will now be returned to shareholders ahead of the company's merger of equals with Alliance UniChem - a deal it announced on Monday.