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