(Reuters) - Metro Inc (>> Metro, Inc.), Canada's third-biggest food retailer, is in talks to buy pharmacy chain Jean Coutu Group (>> Jean Coutu Group PJC Inc) in a deal that values the company at C$4.5 billion (2.71 billion pounds).
Vancouver-based Metro is offering C$24.50 per share, representing a 6 percent premium to Jean Coutu's Tuesday closing price.
Metro's offer consists of 75 percent in cash and 25 percent in its shares, the companies said in a statement on Wednesday. The Coutu family, the majority shareholder of the pharmacy chain, has said it will support the deal, according to the statement. Metro's shares were trading up 4.14 percent at C$41.75, while Jean Coutu's were up 6.37 percent at C$24.56.
Metro, which operates more than 600 food stores across Canada, bought a majority stake in Montreal-based meal kit maker MissFresh in August. Quebec in July announced a deal with generic drug manufacturers to cut costs for the province that analysts said would hurt the profitability of Jean Coutu's generic drug manufacturing.
(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru and Nichola Saminather in Toronto; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
