Chain drug industry watchers have kept hearing and reading the scuttlebutt about the closing of the Walgreens-Rite Aid merger deal. But a report late Friday afternoon suggested that approval of the $17.2 billion transaction may be imminent.
Investor website that Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) is slated to have a package of store divestitures get the green light from the Federal Trade Commission by the end of the year.
The report also said Fred鈥檚 is poised to buy a chunk of the stores, as are and some . In its call Thursday, which was delayed a week, Fred鈥檚 cited a 鈥減ending transaction鈥� for not taking questions from analysts.
WBA had that it and Rite Aid were extending the agreement鈥檚 end date to Jan. 27 and expect to complete the transaction in early 2017.
Stay tuned.
