Walgreens Boots Alliance has sold another chunk of its holdings in Cencora, formerly AmerisourceBergen, that will bring the Deerfield-based drugstore giant about $400 million.
The share repurchase by Cencora drops Walgreens' ownership in the company from about 13% to 12%, Walgreens said in a press release.
Related: Walgreens seeks $1B in savings from pharmacy, capital projects
Walgreens said in the release it will use proceeds to pay down debt and for general corporate purposes. The company is in the middle of a $1 billion cost-cutting effort and said in the release it is building "a more capital-efficient health services strategy rooted in its retail pharmacy footprint."
The sale is the latest in a series of stock sales of Cencora/AmerisourceBergen stock. Most recently, Walgreens sold nearly $1 billion of Cencora in February. Since November 2022, Walgreens has sold at least $6.5 billion in stock of the Conshohocken, Pa.-based drug wholesale company.
As with previous sales, Walgreens reiterated the shrinking ownership profile has no impact on its long-term partnership with Cencora.
This story first appeared in Crain's Chicago Business.
