U.S. based retail and wholesale pharmacy operator Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) announced that it is replacing its previous merger agreement with industry peer Rite Aid Corp. with a new asset purchase agreement. In the smaller transaction, WBA will acquire about 2,200 stores and other assets from Rite Aid in a transaction valued at $5.2 billion cash. The asset purchase agreement will require less debt funding than the previous merger agreement, resulting in better credit metrics than we anticipated under the prior structure. We are affirming all ratings on the company, including the 'BBB' corporate credit rating, and revising the outlook to stable from negative. The stable outlook reflects our expectation that the company will have some cushion to absorb
