François Coutu will resign from Rite Aid board

NEW YORK — François Coutu has resigned from Rite Aid's board, effective Oct. 31, 2013, Rite Aid said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Quebec-based Jean Coutu, which had taken a 250 million-share interest in Rite Aid in 2007 as part of Rite Aid's acquisition of the Brooks and Eckerd drug store chains, said last week that it had finished selling its shares in the Camp Hill, Pa.-based drug chain. Jean Coutu sold the remaining 65.4 million shares for $192.2 million.

Jean Coutu has been steadily selling off its shares in Rite Aid for the past several months, having sold 72.5 million shares last month.