What followings is an excerpt from Canaccord Genuity's Morning Coffee newsletter.
Referring to
Loblaw Cos. Ltd.’s (
TSX: T.L,
Stock Forum) offer to buy
Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. (
TSX: T.SC,
Stock Forum) for $12.4 billion, Canaccord Genuity points out that the deal only happened after American pharmaceutical and grocery giant
Walgreen Co. (
NYSE: WAG,
Stock Forum) began scoping out the Shoppers chain, the National Post reported.
“We really thought that it would be a big American company that would come up here and make an offer,’’ said a senior retail industry source, who was aware of Walgreen’s interest in possibly buying Shoppers.
Loblaw shares drifted down 0.21% to $48.50, while Shoppers Drug Mart was up 0.45% to $59.96.