News: API UPDATE 1-Australia's Wesfarmers won't back Woolworths' $613 mln bid for API

• Woolworths says due diligence work continues on API
• Wesfarmers assures API stakeholders on customer data
• Wesfarmers owns 19.3% of API

(Rewrites with responses from Woolworths, API; adds Wesfarmers comments on customer data)

Dec 15 (Reuters) - Wesfarmers (WES) said on Wednesday it would not back a bid by Woolworths (WOW) to buy Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API) , and has taken steps to settle concerns raised by some stakeholders of the country's top drugstore chain.

Woolworths, Australia's largest grocer, attempted to scuttle Wesfarmers' already-agreed buyout of API when it lobbed https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/australias-api-gets-higher-buyout-offer-613-mln-woolworths-2021-12-01 a higher bid earlier this month.

Retail conglomerate Wesfarmers has already used its 19.3% holding of API to block Australia's Wesfarmers moves to block Sigma attempt to buy API an approach by Sigma Healthcare (SIG) .

The A$1.75 a share, or A$862.1 million ($612.87 million), bid by Woolworths is 20 cents more than Wesfarmers' offer. API said on Dec. 2 that the grocer's bid appeared to be "superior" and granted access to confirmatory due diligence.

A Woolworths spokesperson said due diligence continues and there has been "no change to our process." API, which owns the Priceline and Soul Pattinson pharmacies, declined to comment further.

Wesfarmers, the owner of Kmart, Target and Officeworks, said some API franchisees and pharmacists raised concerns that customer data from the rewards programme of Priceline could be shared with others linked to the retail giant.

"In recognition of the competitive overlap between API and supermarkets, Wesfarmers has undertaken to keep all API customer data separate from Coles," it said, referring to Australia's no.2 grocer that it spun off in 2018.

API shares rose 1% to A$1.725 within half an hour of trade in a weak Australian market (xjo) , which was down 0.6%.

($1 = 1.4067 Australian dollars)