Walgreens Announces Plan to Buy Rite-Aid

Our local Rite-Aid drug stores will soon become Walgreens.

The Wall St. Journal reported Tuesday Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has announced it is buying rival Rite Aid for about $9.41 billion in cash, creating a drugstore giant with nearly 18,000 stores around the world.

The deal combines the largest and third-largest U.S. drugstore chains, based on store counts.

Walgreens said it will pay $9 for each share of Rite Aid Corp. That’s a 48 percent increase to Rite Aid’s closing price of $6.08 Monday.

Shares of both companies jumped Tuesday after The Wall Street Journal first reported the deal. The companies said the deal is worth $17.2 billion, when debt is included.

Rite Aid, which is based in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, has more than 4,600 stores in the U.S.

The sale is expected to be finalized sometime in the latter half of 2016 barring any anti-trust issues with federal regulators.

In Northeast Georgia, Rite-Aid has drug stores in Lavonia, Royston, Toccoa, Cornelia and Danielsville.