(Reuters) – U.S. drug wholesaler AmerisourceBergen Corp said on Wednesday it would buy Walgreens Boots Alliance’s drug distribution business for $6.5 billion to expand in Europe.
AmerisourceBergen will pay Walgreens $6.27 billion in cash and deliver 2 million shares of AmerisourceBergen common stock at closing of the transaction.
Walgreens’ unit, Alliance Healthcare is one of the largest drug distributors in Europe. Reuters reported in May that AmerisourceBergen had approached Walgreens to explore a deal for the unit.
With the deal, Walgreens Boots Alliance will be able to increase focus on its core retail pharmacy businesses, which has seen a hit in sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With a 30% stake, Walgreens is the largest shareholder of AmerisourceBergen.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
