Walgreens urged to leave US to gain tax benefit

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101580301

From the article:

Walgreens has come under pressure from an influential group of its shareholders, who want the US pharmacy chain to consider relocating to Europe, in what would be one of the largest tax inversions ever attempted.

At a private meeting in Paris on Friday, investors owning close to 5 per cent of Walgreens’ shares lobbied the company’s management to use its $16bn takeover of Swiss-based Alliance Boots to re-domicile its tax base.

In a note last month, analysts at UBS said Walgreens’ tax rate was expected to be 37.5 per cent compared with 20 per cent for Boots, and that an inversion could increase earnings per share by 75 per cent. They added, however, that “Walgreens’ management seems more hesitant to pull the trigger near-term due to perceived political risks.”

WAGS has abt 950 million shares outstanding.. so that means that abt 700 MILLION dollars would be removed from the US tax base… and added to WAGS’ bottom line..  and that is just the taxes that leaves out economy… but.. what happens to the roughly 2 billion left in post tax profits.. that will now be in Europe.. Use to make Alliance Boots “World’s pharmacy” ?

I recently blog about his issue “is the tail going to WAG the dog”

Filed under: General Problems