Walgreens Boots Alliance announced connected Thursday that it has agreed to a $10 cardinal deal to beryllium acquired by backstage equity patient Sycamore Partners and spell private. After years of falling income and rising costs, the drugstore concatenation is trying to move its business astir extracurricular the nationalist eye.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Walgreens said that Sycamore would salary $11.45 a stock successful cash, giving the woody an equity worth of astir $10 billion. Shareholders could person an further $3 a share, according to proceeds from income of Walgreens' primary-care assets.
The woody will adjacent successful the 4th fourth of 2025 and person a full worth of up to $23.7 billion, factoring successful indebtedness and imaginable early payouts. When completed, Walgreens' communal banal will nary longer beryllium listed connected the Nasdaq Stock Market, arsenic it will go a backstage company.
Walgreens has been a publically traded institution since 1927. Over the past decade, the drugstore concatenation has faced persistent financial challenges that person dropped its marketplace worth from $100 cardinal successful 2015 to astir $9.8 billion today. According to The New York Times, Walgreens reported a nett nonaccomplishment of $8.6 cardinal for the 2024 fiscal year, triple the nonaccomplishment it reported successful 2023.
Related: 'Changes Are Imminent': Walgreens to Shutter a 'Significant' Number of Stores
Walgreens grew to astir 9,500 U.S. stores successful 2018 but has since closed astir a 1000 locations and is successful the early stages of a turnaround scheme to close 1,200 more to trim costs. Only 6,000 of its U.S. stores were profitable, Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth said successful an net telephone successful October.
The Sycamore buyout would return Walgreens backstage and springiness it much room to amended its U.S. business without nationalist scrutiny.
"While we are making advancement against our eager turnaround strategy, meaningful worth creation will return time, attraction and alteration that is amended managed arsenic a backstage company," Wentworth stated successful a Thursday press release.
Walgreens has besides faced ineligible challenges. In June 2023, interactive show institution Cooler Screens filed a lawsuit against Walgreens alleging that the drugstore concatenation blocked the rollout of its ad-enabled integer cooler doors, breaching a statement signed successful 2018. Walgreens contended that Cooler Screens' exertion resulted successful method challenges for illustration freezing screens and incorrect merchandise displays.
Related: Walgreens' Battle Over High-Tech Cooler Doors Heats Up
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