Walgreens-Rite Aid Deal Scrapped

Walgreens Boots Alliance has decided to terminate its merger with Rite Aid Corp., instead entering a new agreement to buy almost  half of the Camp Hill. Pa.-based drug store chain' stores. Under the pending deal, Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreens will pay Rite Aid $5.2 billion in cash for 2,186 of its 4,153 stores, in addition to a $325 million termination fee. The merger was delayed for more than a year after it was first revealed, thanks to antitrust concerns raised by the Federal Trade Commission. Walgreens tried to ameliorate those concerns by divesting 865 store locations to Fred’s Pharmacy in a transaction that has also now been axed.

Read more at the website of Progressive Grocer sister company Path to Purchase Institute.