CVS Pharmacy, a chain based in Rhode Island who recently has been aggressively expanding on the west coast, announced a deal to buy out Longs Drugs. Longs Drugs operates over 500 stores in the Southwest US and in Hawaii. The deal is worth $2.7Billion, with $200Million in debt being acquired. The deal equals a cash offer of $71.50/share, a 32 percent premium over the $54.04/share that Longs had at the time of the deal.
As well as the Longs Drugs brand, CVS will also acquire Rx America, which is a perscription management program with 8 million users. All Longs Drugs stores will be rebranded as CVS in the coming weeks, except for Hawaii which will retain the Longs Drugs name.
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That makes me sad a little. Longs Drugs has been a staple in Central California for many years. Between them and Thrifty Drugs, they were extrememly popular. Thrifty always had the ice cream fountains in their stores and their ice cream rocked. Thrifty got bought out by Payless Drugs in the late 80s, which in turn got bought out by Rite Aid soon thereafter. So now it's Rite Aid vs CVS, 2 soulless companies. *sigh*