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Rite Aid, Albertsons call off merger deal

09 of August 2018

FILE- This Oct. 21, 2016, file photo shows a Rite Aid location in Philadelphia. Rite Aid chopped its full-year profit forecast three days before its shareholders vote on a bid by the grocer Albertsons Companies to buy the drugstore chain. Rite Aid said Monday, Aug. 6, 2018, that generic drug pricing isn’t shaping up like it expected in April when it made a fiscal 2019 forecast it reaffirmed in June.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File),FILE- This Oct. 21, 2016, file photo shows a Rite Aid location in Philadelphia. Rite Aid chopped its full-year profit forecast three days before its shareholders vote on a bid by the grocer Albertsons Companies to buy the drugstore chain. Rite Aid said Monday, Aug. 6, 2018, that generic drug pricing isn’t shaping up like it expected in April when it made a fiscal 2019 forecast it reaffirmed in June.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Drugstore chain Rite Aid and grocer Albertsons say they have called off their merger deal.

Rite Aid CEO John Standley said in a statement late Wednesday that after hearing the views of shareholders, Rite Aid is “committed to moving forward and executing our strategic plan as a standalone company.”

As a result, a special meeting of Rite Aid shareholders that was due to vote on the deal on Aug. 9 has been canceled.

Albertsons, which is privately owned and operates grocery chain Safeway, among others, announced in February a plan to buy Rite Aid’s more than 2,500 drugstores. The grocer offered either a share of its stock and $1.83 in cash or slightly more than one Albertsons share for every 10 Rite Aid shares.