NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / February 21, 2018 / The parent company of Safeway, Albertsons, has announced that it will be acquiring what's left of Rite Aid after Walgreens received regulatory approval last September to buy 1,900 Rite Aid stores. The name of the merged company has not been revealed yet but will take Albertsons public. Shares are expected to trade on the NYSE and the deal is expected to close in the second half of the year. Walgreens announced yesterday that it and Express Scripts are expanding their group purchasing efforts.

RDI Initiates Coverage on:

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.
https://rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=WBA

Rite Aid Corporation
https://rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=RAD

Walgreens Boots Alliance's shares closed down a modest 0.01% yesterday on a little over 6 million shares traded. The company, along with Express Scripts Holding Company, announced that they are expanding their group purchasing efforts to include the procurement of specialty brand drugs. Tim Wentworth, the president and CEO of Express Scripts remarked, "Specialty medications represent the most costly and complex drugs. By expanding our efforts with Walgreens Boots Alliance, we will improve our supply chain and ultimately make the use of these medicines, including biosimilars, more affordable and accessible for our patients and clients." Walgreens Co-chief Operating Officer Alex Gourlay commented, "As prescription drug needs evolve and specialty medications are prescribed more often, we continue to look for new solutions that will help our patients get the medications they need at an affordable price. Working with Express Scripts, we are partnering to deliver even more value to our patients and clients to improve health outcomes."

Access RDI's Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. Research Report at:
https://rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=WBA

Rite Aid?s shares closed up 3.29% on about 144 million shares traded on Tuesday. Trading volume skyrocketed compared to the stock's average trading volume of a little under 25 million shares traded. It was an exciting day for the company as traders learned that Albertsons, a giant supermarket chain, will be buying the remaining portion of Rite Aid that Walgreens Boots Alliance hasn't acquired. The combined companies will be worth $24 billion. Albertsons, which is privately owned by Cerberus Capital Management, will become public as it merges with Rite Aid. As part of the deal, Albertsons pharmacies will be rebranded as Rite Aid. Once the deal finalizes, Albertsons shareholders will own 70.4%-72% of the business. Rite Aid shareholders are allowed to decide if they want to be paid in stock or a combination of stock and cash. It was due to regulatory objections that Walgreens was not able to buy all of Rite Aid.

Access RDI's Rite Aid Corporation Research Report at:
https://rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=RAD

Our Actionable Research on Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ: WBA) and Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE: RAD) can be downloaded free of charge at Research Driven Investing.

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