...February 28, 2024 TOKYO (S&P Global Ratings) Feb. 29, 2024--Aeon's buyout of Tsuruha Holdings Inc. in a deal creating Japan's biggest drugstore alliance will enhance its business portfolio. Its financial cushion is likely to buffer our '###' issuer credit rating on the company. On Feb. 28, 2024, Aeon Co. Ltd. (###/Stable/--) announced it will acquire Ñ102.3 billion in shares of Tsuruha Holdings (unrated), Japan's second-biggest drugstore chain, from Oasis Management Co. Ltd., and make the company an equity-method affiliate. Aeon plans to integrate management of Tsuruha Holdings and Welcia Holdings Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Aeon and Japan's biggest drugstore chain, by the end of December 2027. Tsuruha Holdings would then become Aeon's consolidated subsidiary. We think Aeon's performance and financial health will remain within tolerances for our '###' rating on the company in the next one to two years even incorporating the Tsuruha Holdings deal. We anticipate the ratio of debt to EBITDA...
