Rite Aid Corp (RADCQ)

[BigCat]

Albertsons to buy remainder of Rite Aid

Albertsons Cos. plans to buy the rest of Rite Aid Corp. that isn’t being sold to Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. as retailers of all stripes scramble to respond to a rapidly changing consumer shopping landscape.

The drugstore chain and Albertsons have a combined value of around $24 billion, including debt, the companies said Monday. Rite Aid RAD, +22.07% , which comprises thousands of drug stores and a benefits-management company with millions of members, has a market value of about $2.3 billion and is in the process of selling a chunk of its stores to Walgreens WBA, +1.63% .

Following the proposed cash-and-stock deal, shareholders of closely held Albertsons, owner of Safeway and 19 other supermarket chains, would hold roughly 71% of the combined company, while Rite Aid investors would own the rest, they said.

The transaction would create a company with revenue of $83 billion and allow Albertsons to go public after more than a decade of ownership by private-equity giant Cerberus Capital Management LP. The grocer was on the brink of an initial public offering in 2015 but shelved the plan in the face of a dour profit forecast by rival Walmart Inc WMT, +1.04% .

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/albertsons-and-rite-aid-to-merge-then-go-public-2018-02-20