The Walgreens logo is displayed in the Walgreens store on October 15, 2024 in San Rafael, California.
Justin Sullivan Getty images
Fighting drugstore chain Walgreens He goes privately.
The company said that on Thursday concluded a contract with Private Equity Sycamore Partners, which will take it off the public market in terms of capital value of around $ 10 billion.
Sycamore will pay USD 11.45 per cash in cash for Walgreens, which is about 8% of the bonus to the price of closing the shares on Thursday. Shareholders may also receive up to 3 USD in the future for the sale of Walgreens main enterprises, including Village Medical, Summit Health and CIMIMD.
Walgreens said that the total value of the transaction would be up to $ 23.7 billion, including debt and possible withdrawals down.
Walgreens and Sycamore expect that they will end the contract in the fourth quarter of this year. Walgreens shares increased by more than 5% in trade after hours on Thursday before they were stopped.
The historical agreement ends with the turbulent run of Walgreens as a public company, which began in 1927. From Thursday morning the company's shares increased by more than 15% in 2025, but shares fell by more than 48% in the last year and fell by 70% in the last three years.
“While we are making progress against our ambitious feedback strategy, meaningful creation of values will take some time, concentrate and changes that better manage as a private company,” said on Thursday the general director of Walgreens, who entered the role in 2023. “Sycamore will provide us with the knowledge and experience of a partner with great achievements of successful commercial phrases.
Stefan Karuzny, managing director of Sycamore, said in the edition that the transaction reflects the company's trust in the “model directed by the pharmacy Walgreens and an important role in conducting better results for patients, clients and communities.”
Walgreens will keep his headquarters in Chicago. According to the issue, the company currently has over 310,000 employees around the world and 12,500 locations of retail pharmacy in the USA, Europe and Latin America. Walgreens is still planning to spend his earnings in the second quarter of April 8.
Walgreens market value reached the peak of over $ 100 billion in 2015, because investors gained confidence in their business plans and health care expansion, which makes him one of the most outstanding American retail companies.
But the company's market capitalization dropped to less than $ 8 billion at the end of 2024 Amazonwith lots of challenges. Walgreens was squeezed through the transition from the air conditioning of the pandemic, returning the pharmacy, soft consumer expenses and restless pushing in health care.
Both Walgreens and CVS for years of expansion of stores to the closure of hundreds of location of the retail pharmacy in the US to profits. But unlike CVS, who diversified his business model, offering insurance and pharmaceutical services, Walgreens largely doubled his activities in the field of retail pharmacy.
In October, Walgreens said he was planning Close about 1,200 of his drugstore Over the next three years, including 500 in the 2025 tax year alone. Walgreens has about 8,700 locations in the US, of which a quarter of which is unprofitable. The company also returned its pursuit of primary healthcare, limiting its participation in Villagemd.
Walgreens used Tim Wentworth's healthcare veteran as a new general director at the end of 2023 to help in recovering position.
In the past, the company was perceived as a potential goal of private equity.
In 2019, Private Equity KKR did roughly Purchase of $ 70 billion Walgreens, Financial Times and Bloomberg at that time.