Skadden is advising Rite Aid Corporation, which has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA), whereby WBA will acquire 2,186 stores, related distribution assets and inventory from Rite Aid for an all-cash purchase price of $5.175 billion, on a cash-free, debt-free basis. Under the terms of the agreement, Rite Aid has the option to purchase generic drugs that are sourced through an affiliate of WBA at cost, substantially equivalent to Walgreens for a period of 10 years. The company also announced the immediate termination of the merger agreement, which was announced on October 27, 2015 and amended on January 29, 2017, under which WBA would have acquired all outstanding shares of Rite Aid. For more information, please see Rite Aid's press release here.
The Skadden deal team includes: M&A partners Marie Gibson and Paul Schnell and associates Mary Dear, Jack Rossman and Kathleen Negri; Corporate Finance partners Stacy Kanter and Michael Zeidel; Banking partner David Reamer; Intellectual Property and Technology partner Bruce Goldner and associate Pramode Chiruvolu (Palo Alto); Executive Compensation and Benefits partner Neil Leff and associate Page Griffin (Washington, D.C.); Labor and Employment Law partner David Schwartz; and Tax partner Chase Wink. All of the attorneys are based in New York unless otherwise noted.
