Walgreens Boots Alliance Sells AmerisourceBergen Shares For About $1.0 Bln

(RTTNews) - Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) said that it has sold shares of AmerisourceBergen Corp. (ABC) for proceeds of about $1.0 billion.

Walgreens Boots said it sold about $0.8 billion of AmerisourceBergen shares pursuant to Rule 144, and a concurrent share repurchase by AmerisourceBergen for proceeds of about $0.2 billion.

Walgreens Boots Alliance's ownership of AmerisourceBergen's common stock has decreased from about 20 percent to approximately 17 percent.

Walgreens Boots Alliance said it will use proceeds from the share sales primarily for debt paydown and the funding of the company's strategic priorities, including the definitive agreement for VillageMD to acquire Summit Health-CityMD.

Walgreens noted that the sale has no impact to the long-term partnership between the two companies. Chief Operating Officer, International of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Ornella Barra, will continue to serve on AmerisourceBergen's Board of Directors.

In a separate press release, AmerisourceBergen confirmed that it agreed to repurchase shares of its common stock from Walgreens Boots Alliance Holdings LLC in the amount of about $200 million in concurrence with Walgreens Boots Alliance's sale of AmerisourceBergen shares pursuant to Rule 144.