Dive Brief:
- In October, Walgreens agreed to buy Rite Aid for $9.4 billion. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has now requested further information from the companies for a second time.
- Despite the requests, the two companies are confident they will be able to close the deal by the second half of 2016.
- Walgreens and Rite Aid are two of the top three largest drugstore chains in the nation.
Dive Insight:
The FTC has undertaken numerous efforts to scuttle merger deals that could potentially break anti-trust laws. Earlier this year, the FTC successfully scuttled deals between Comcast and Time Warner Cable, as well as between Sysco Corp. and US Foods Inc.
Despite these failed mergers, Walgreens and Rite Aid are moving forward with plans to merge the two companies and effectively become the largest mega-drugstore chain in the U.S.