Walgreens Boots Alliance provides update on Rite Aid deal

DEERFIELD, Ill. – Following discussions with the Federal Trade Commission regarding its proposed acquisition of Rite Aid, Walgreens Boots Alliance on Thursday announced the company expected its store divestiture requirement to exceed the previously announced 500 stores expected, but will still fall short of 1,000 stores.



Walgreens Boots Alliance and Rite Aid remain actively engaged with the FTC regarding its review of the pending acquisition, Walgreens stated. As a result of the progress of these discussions with the FTC staff, Walgreens Boots Alliance is exploring potential divestiture remedies to address certain issues raised in those discussions.



Walgreens continues to believe that the acquisition will close in the second half of calendar 2016, the company added.



Taking into account its current expectation of store divestitures, Walgreens Boots Alliance continues to expect that the acquisition will be accretive to its adjusted earnings per share in the first full year after closing of the transaction. The company also continues to expect that it will realize synergies from the acquisition in excess of $1 billion, to be fully realized within three to four years of closing. These synergies have been updated where practicable and, as previously disclosed, are expected to be derived primarily from procurement, cost savings and other operational matters.