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Walgreens Boots Alliance gets regulatory green light for amended US$4.4bn Rite Aid deal

Published: 08:32 19 Sep 2017 EDT

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The company is ready to pull the trigger on a big expansion in the US

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) has received the regulatory green light for its bid to become America’s largest pharmacy chain – at the fourth attempt.

It has been given amended clearance from the Federal Trade Commission that would allow it to acquire 1,932 Rite Aid stores and three distribution centers for just shy of US$4.4bn.

It expects the synergies from the deal to be in the order of US$300mln.

Just under two years ago, Walgreens bid US$9.4bn for the whole group, but ran into a roadblock with the FTC.

It failed another two times with the regulator before coming to this final accommodation.

Rite Aid shares were up around 2% early on.

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