The Walgreens logo is shown in a Walgreens store on October 15, 2024 in San Rafael, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty images
Pharmacy chain with fighting Walgreens It goes private.
The company said Thursday that it signed an agreement with the private capital firm Sycamore Partners that will take it out of the public market for a capital value of around $ 10 billion.
Sycamore will pay $ 11.45 per cash action for Walgreens, which represents a premium of approximately 8% at the closing price of the action on Thursday. Shareholders could also receive up to $ 3 more per share in the future of sales of Walgreens primary care companies, including Village Medical, Summit Health and Citymd.
Walgreens said the total transaction value would be up to $ 23.7 billion to include debt and possible payments in the future.
Walgreens and Sycamore hope to close the private agreement in the fourth quarter of this year. Walgreens' shares jumped more than 5% in negotiation outside time on Thursday before being arrested.
The historical agreement ends the tumultuous Walgreens career as a public company, which began in 1927. Until Thursday morning, the company's shares increased more than 15% by 2025, but the shares still fell more than 48% during the last year and had fallen 70% during the last three years.
“While we are progressing against our ambitious change strategy, the creation of significant value will take time, focus and change that is best managed as a private company,” Walgreens CEO said Thursday, who assumed the role in 2023, in a statement on Thursday. “Sycamore will provide us with the experience and experience of a partner with a solid history of successful retail changes.
Stefan Kaluzny, managing director of Sycamore, said in the statement the transaction reflects the confidence of the company in the “model led by Walgreens pharmacy and an essential role in promoting better results for patients, clients and communities.”
Walgreens will keep its headquarters in Chicago. The company currently has more than 310,000 employees worldwide and 12,500 retail pharmacy locations in the United States, Europe and Latin America, according to the statement. Walgreens still plans to launch its profits from the second quarter on April 8.
The Walgreens market value reached a peak of more than $ 100 billion in 2015 as investors gained confidence in their business plans and medical care expansion, which makes it one of the most prominent American retail companies.
But the market capital of the company was reduced to less than $ 8 billion at the end of 2024 due to the competition of its main rivals, groceries, retail, retail and large boxes and Amazonalong with a lot of challenges. Walgreens has been squeezed by the transition outside the Covid pandemic, winds against pharmacy reimbursement, softer expense for consumers and a problematic impulse in medical care.
Both Walgreens and CVS have revolved from years of store expansions to closing hundreds of retail pharmacy locations in the United States to underpin the profits. But unlike CVS, which has diversified its business model by offering insurance and pharmacy benefits, Walgreens doubled in its now floating retail pharmacy business.
In October, Walgreens said he plans to close approximately 1,200 of his pharmacies in the next three years, including 500 only in fiscal year 2025. Walgreens has about 8,700 locations in the US. UU., A quarter of which he says they are not profitable. The company has also reduced its impulse to primary care by reducing its participation in the Villagemd supplier.
Walgreens took advantage of the veteran of the Tim Wentworth health industry as his new CEO at the end of 2023 to help recover his balance.
According to reports, the company has been seen as a potential private capital objective in the past.
In 2019, the private capital firm KKR made a purchase offer of approximately $ 70 billion to Walgreens, Financial Times and Bloomberg reported at that time.
