NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Aug. 25, 2016--Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) announced today that it increased its ownership in AmerisourceBergen Corp. (ABC) to about 24% through the exercise of warrants. WBA used about $1.2 billion of existing cash to fund the purchase. This does not have an impact on our ratings or outlook on WBA (BBB/Negative/A-2). We continue to believe that the WBA and ABC agreement is credit positive for WBA. They have a 10-year agreement under which, among other things, WBA sources branded, generic, and specialty pharmaceutical products from ABC. The agreement also provides operational benefits for WBA, including opportunities to enhance product offerings and working capital efficiencies that can benefit profits and operating cash flows. Our corporate
