Walgreens Boots Alliance has sold more shares of drug distributor Cencora for about $1.1 in proceeds … [+]
Walgreens Boots Alliance has sold more shares of drug distributor Cencora for proceeds of approximately $1.1 billion, which “will be used primarily for debt service and general corporate purposes.”
The share sale, which comes as CEO Tim Wentworth works on a financial turnaround of the iconic drugstore chain, reduces Walgreen’s stake in Cencora from 12% to 10%.
“Proceeds from the Walgreens Boots Alliance will be used primarily for debt service and general corporate purposes as the company continues to build a more capital-efficient healthcare strategy rooted in its retail pharmacy footprint,” Walgreens said in an announcement. was released Thursday evening. “The sale has no impact on the long-term partnership between the two companies. Walgreens Boots Alliance remains fully committed to the strategic, mutually beneficial relationship with Cencora, which has been a strong and trusted partner since 2013.”
Walgreens began reducing its stake in the distributor, formerly known as AmerisourceBergen, and other companies over the past three years to raise money for other priorities, such as creating a new specialty pharmacy company and putting more health care services in its stores. Walgreens sold more shares in Cencora worth more than $990 million earlier this year and sold more shares worth $400 million in May.
Meanwhile, the company said in June it was considering closing hundreds of “underperforming” stores. To stem the tide, Walgreens announced it was completing a “footprint optimization program” to close certain underperforming stores across the company’s more than 8,600 U.S. locations. Manmohan Mahajan, Walgreens Executive Vice President and Global Chief Financial Officer said “25% is the total footprint” executives are evaluating for a possible closure.