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Walgreens Boots Alliance concluded an agreement of a value of up to 23.7 billion dollars with partners of Sycamore of Investment group which will end the management of the century of the pharmacy chain in difficulty as a public company.
Sycamore agreed to pay $ 11.45 per share to be taken Walgreens Private, valuing its shares to a bonus of almost 30% before the transaction talks, was reported for the first time in December and giving it capital value of around $ 10 billion, the pharmacy chain announced on Thursday.
Sycamore is likely to keep the retail trade in the United States and to sell or turn the rest, which includes the British pharmacy chain boots, as part of a three-fledting, reported the Financial Times previously.
Walgreens’ shareholders could be paid for an additional $ 3 per share according to the sale of primary care in Walgreens, Villagemd, evaluating the company, including debt up to $ 23.7 billion.
As part of the agreement, the Italian billionaire Stefano Pessina, executive president of Walgreens and the largest shareholder, will maintain a considerable minority shareholder in the company.
The METRA private transaction to the management of Walgreens at the age of 97 as a listed company. As part of the agreement, Walgreens will have 35 days to request and entertain rival offers.
Pessina forged Walgreens Boots Alliance by orchestrating a merger of Walgreens based in the United States with European alliance boots in 2014. Former leader of the combined group from 2015 to 2021, he holds a 17% stake in society.
The company has thousands of stores, including Walgreens and Duane Reade Pharmacies in the United States. His income totaled $ 148 billion in his last financial year.
The market value of Walgreens culminated at more than $ 100 billion shortly after the 2014 merger closes. But diminished At less than $ 10 billion during the decade that followed, the company spent billions to add pharmacies, as was electronic commerce has made sales of general goods and pharmacies, reimbursement rates for prescription drugs.
At the end of 2019, Walgreens refused a private offer from the KKR investment group assessing the company at more than $ 70 billion.
The company extended to health care, spending $ 5.2 billion in 2021 to take control of the Villagemd network of primary care physicians. Villagemd then paid $ 8.9 billion for Summit Health-City MD, a US group Urgent Care and Physicians’. Walgreens have been trying to unload Villagemd for over a year.
Tim Wentworth, managing director of Walgreens, said that the company’s “ambitious recovery plans” would be easier to execute as a private company.
“Sycamore will provide us with the expertise and experience of a partner with solid history of successful retail reversals,” he added.
The company said it would retain its long -standing headquarters in the Chicago region.
The acquisition of Walgreens represents a big bet for Sycamore, which has around $ 10 billion in assets under management. The Sycamore’s marked agreement to date was its acquisition of $ 7 billion from the Staples office supplies, which also lost business to electronic commerce competitors.
Sycamore has obtained more than $ 10 billion in debt of banks and private credit debt, including Ares Management, HPS Investment Partners, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.
Landers have undertaken to distinctly finance the three individual units in a complex transaction, those who lend business in difficulty to American Walgreens forcing the company to obtain its debt against stock value, including prescriptions, said a person familiar with the case.
