Walgreens Calls Off Deal to Buy Rite Aid
DE LA MERCED and CHAD BRAYJUNE 29, 2017
Walgreens Boots Alliance and Rite Aid said on Thursday
that they had called off their long-planned merger, after antitrust authorities indicated they were not likely to approve the combination of two of the nation’s biggest drugstore chains.
In April 2016, the drugmaker Pfizer abandoned its $152 billion merger with Allergan after the Obama administration introduced new
tax rules designed to limit the ability of companies to shed United States corporate citizenship in order to cut tax bills.
In January, a federal judge blocked a $37 billion merger between the health insurance giants Aetna
and Humana after the United States Justice Department said that it should not go forward on antitrust grounds.
Instead, Rite Aid will sell 2,186 stores, out of its 4,600 total,
and three distribution centers to Walgreens for $5.175 billion, ending nearly two years of negotiations between the two chains.