Walgreens Abandons Plan to Move Overseas
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Tim Boyle/Getty Images(DEERFIELD, Ill.) — Walgreens is staying put in the U.S.
The company announced on Wednesday it will buy — pending shareholder approval — its remaining 55 percent stake in European health and beauty retailer Alliance Boots and keep the combined company’s headquarters in Illinois.
“The Walgreens Boots Alliance holding company will be headquartered in the Chicago area, while Walgreens operations will remain headquartered in Deerfield, Ill.,” Walgreens said in a statement.
Had the drugstore chain decided to reorganize overseas, it would have cut back on the amount of taxes it has to pay. But the company opted to not pull off an inversion because it wasn’t in the best interest of its shareholders.
“We took into account all factors, including that we could not arrive at a structure that provided the company and our board with the requisite level of confidence that a transaction of this significance would need to withstand extensive IRS review and scrutiny. As a result the company concluded it was not in the best long-term interest of our shareholders to attempt to re-domicile outside the U.S.,” Walgreens President and CEO Greg Wasson said.
Wasson will be president and CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance when the acquisition is complete, which is projected to happen in the first quarter of 2015.
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