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Walgreens Boots Alliance’s unit, VillageMD, is buying Summit Health-CityMD for a reported $9 billion deal. The acquisition that was announced on Monday will create one of the largest healthcare providers in the United States.
Summit Health-CityMD is mainly providing urgent care service, primary and specialty care in Oregon and the throughout the Northeastern U.S. The multi-billion dollar deal also includes debt, and it follows a series of medical mergers with various consumer companies.
Moreover, VillageMD, a known primary healthcare provider which is also backed by Walgreens, is buying Summit Health to further expand its line of business. This will also boost the company’s healthcare footprint in the market.
It was noted that this acquisition deal is the latest in the U.S. amid the current trend among the major companies where they expand their businesses in the healthcare market by buying smaller companies. Some of the firms that have engaged in similar deals are CVS Health Corp. and Amazon Inc.
The transaction has an equity value of $7 billion, and Walgreens’ VillageMD is set to take on $1.9 billion in net debt as part of the agreement with Summit Health. Walgreens revealed it would support the acquisition by putting in $3.5 billion through an even combination of debt and equity. The deal is expected to close in early 2023.
“This is an epic milestone in our journey to transform healthcare in the United States. Summit Health-CityMD has been a leader in delivering coordinated, multi-specialty care for decades,” VillageMD’s chairman and chief executive officer, Tim Barry, said in a press release.
He added, “We are honored to work side-by-side with their 13,000-strong workforce who are passionately committed to delivering the best outcomes for millions of patients. Both organizations share a deep commitment to keeping our patients and clinicians at the forefront of what we do to best serve them.”
Jeff Alter, Summit Health’s chief, said that they are very excited about the big potential after merging the companies. He said that they would “add their expertise and geographic coverage to VillageMD’s proven value-based primary care approach” to improve the lives of many patients as well as doctors in the U.S. while also helping with reducing healthcare costs.
