Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) and Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) are still hoping to avoid another lengthy go-round with the Federal Trade Commission as they seek antitrust approval for the “Plan B” they unveiled after canceling their merger on June 29.
On Thursday, Aug. 17, the pharmacy retail chains said they voluntarily pulled and refiled their antitrust notification with the FTC plans for Walgreens to buy 2,186 Rite Aid stores for $5.2 billion.
Refiling antitrust an application gives the commission an extra 30 days to review the transaction without issuing a more burdensome second request for information and is a common maneuver when merging parties that believe they can address a few competition concerns without undergoing lengthy negotiations before regulators.
