ANALYSIS: PBM Power Helps Push Walgreens Into Private Waters

Pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) practices and a consolidated pharmaceutical market helped steer Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.'s (WBA) decision to go private in an effort to redirect their declining business. Yet WBA’s financial woes aren’t an anomaly in the industry: Since 2010, one in three US retail pharmacies have closed.

WBA and Sycamore Partners LLC entered into a definitive agreement on March 6 for Sycamore to acquire WBA and to take WBA private. The transaction is expected to close in Q4, after which time, WBA will be a private company.

Meanwhile, WBA faces further challenges from ongoing opioid settlements and ...