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CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid Corp. has finalized its acquisition of pharmacy benefit management company Envision Pharmaceutical Services.
The closing of the deal, valued at about $2 billion, came early in the timetable that Rite Aid initially reported. When the acquisition was announced in February, Rite Aid said it expected to complete the transaction by September. But last week, in a conference call on Rite Aid’s fiscal 2016 first-quarter results, chairman and chief executive officer John Standley said the companies were “making tremendous progress” in obtaining regulatory approvals and meeting other closing conditions and expected to finish the transaction by the beginning of July.
Under the agreement, Rite Aid is acquiring Envision from private investment firm TPG and other shareholders for approximately $1.8 billion in cash and 27.9 million Rite Aid shares.
“The completion of this acquisition is an important step in our strategy to expand Rite Aid’s retail health care platform and enhance our health and wellness offerings,” Standley said in a statement. “EnvisionRx’s talented management team and valued associates are a tremendous addition to our Rite Aid family. The combination of EnvisionRx’s broad suite of PBM and pharmacy-related businesses with Rite Aid’s retail platform will provide our customers and patients with an integrated offering across retail, specialty and mail-order channels.”
EnvisionRx provides transparent and traditional PBM services through its EnvisionRx and MedTrak PBMs, respectively, as well as pharmacy-related services to clients across the United States. The company also offers integrated mail-order and specialty pharmacy services through Orchard Pharmaceutical Services; access to the nation’s largest cash-pay infertility discount drug program via Design Rx; a claims adjudication software platform in Laker Software; and a national Medicare Part D prescription drug plan through Envision Insurance Co.’s EnvisionRx Plus product offering.
Rite Aid said EnvisionRx will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary and be led by its current CEO, Frank Sheehy, and current management. EnvisionRx’s headquarters will remain in Twinsburg, Ohio.
“As part of Rite Aid, we are well-positioned to deliver a truly integrated health care offering, which will provide tremendous benefits to both plan sponsors and patients,” Sheehy stated. “Our work is already well under way, and we look forward to accelerating our efforts now that the transaction is complete.”
