Walgreens, Rite Aid End $9.4 Billion Merger
Walgreens WBA +1.06% Boots Alliance Inc. and Rite RAD -5.58% Aid Corp. scrapped their $9.4 billion merger agreement, the latest in a series of high-profile deals to be derailed by antitrust enforcers.
Instead, Walgreens said it would seek to buy half of Rite RAD -5.58% Aid’s stores for $5.18 billion in cash. Executives said they had crafted the smaller deal to address regulatory issues, but antitrust experts said it doesn’t eliminate competition concerns.
The aborted deal was a reminder that mergers leading to high levels of industry concentration may face challenges even as more business-friendly Republicans take the reins from Democrats in antitrust enforcement.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, June 29, 2017 6:24pm
Authors: Sharon Terlep and Brent Kendall
Image Credit: (Left) CharlesS Krupa/Associated Press; (Right) Noah Berger/Reuters
Read More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/walgreens-rite-aid-end-9-4-billion-merger-walgreens-to-buy-half-of-rite-aid-stores-1498735324
