Walgreens is required to sell up to 1,000 stores before acquiring Rite Aid.
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. has discovered that it will likely be required to sell more stores than the company had originally intended in order to complete its acquisition of Rite Aid Corp.
According to a recent report from Reuters, Walgreens initially estimated that it would have to divest fewer than 500 stores in order to gain regulatory approval for the acquisition of Rite Aid, but new information has come to light, and the company has now revealed that it will have to sell between 500 and 1000 stores to gain necessary approval. As of May 31, the company operated 8,199 drugstores across the country.
Walgreens recently presented Rite Aid with an offer to purchase the company for $9.4 billion, Reuters reported. Should the transaction go through, Walgreens’ footprint will be greatly increased, and it should provide the company the ability to negotiate lower drug costs.
Reuters reported that analysts feel that the divestiture indicates that the transaction is on track, and the new announcement from Walgreens creates greater confidence that the transaction will soon be completed.
Walgreens has announced that the deal is expected to close in the second half of the year, Reuters reported.