Walgreens Boots Alliance has sold some AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:ABC) Corp’s shares for proceeds of $1 billion, the U.S. drugstore chain said on Thursday, further cutting its ownership in the drug distributor, by 3% to about 17%. Walgreens, which will remain AmerisourceBergen’ largest shareholder, said it would use the proceeds to pay down debt and to fund strategic priorities, including Walgreens-backed VillageMD’s $9 billion acquisition of urgent care provider Summit Health. Walgreens had earlier committed $3.5 billion, through an even mix of debt and equity, to support the deal, which was struck on Nov. 7. A day later, Walgreens said it cut its stake in AmerisourceBergen (ABC) to about 20% from about 26% though a public offering of 10 million ABC shares. The latest share sale includes $200 million that ABC will buy back from Walgreens under its share repurchase program, ABC said in a separate press release, adding these shares would be held in treasury. The share sale has no impact on the long-term partnership between the two companies, Walgreens said.
Asia FX Sinks as Caution Over Fed, CPI inflation, Boosts Dollar
Most Asian currencies fell on Monday, while the dollar rose as markets hunkered down ahead of highly awaited signals on U.S. monetary policy from a Federal Reserve meeting and a reading on U.S. consumer inflation. Most regional units were also nursing losses from last week, amid growing concerns over a […]
