CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AmerisourceBergen Corporation (NYSE: ABC) (the “Company”) announced today a registered public offering of 10.5 million shares of common stock of the Company in connection with Walgreens Boots Alliance Holdings LLC (the “Selling Stockholder”) entering into prepaid variable share forward transactions (the “variable forward transactions”) relating to the Company’s common stock with certain counterparties (the “counterparties”).
The Company has been advised that, in order to establish their initial hedge positions with respect to the variable forward transactions, the counterparties or their affiliates will borrow an aggregate of 7,293,548 shares of the Company’s common stock from third-party stock lenders and will sell those shares (the “underwritten shares”) in an underwritten public offering (the “offering”) through Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, acting as the sole underwriter for the offering. The Company is not issuing or selling any shares of its common stock in the offering, is not a party to the variable forward transactions and will not receive any proceeds from sales of the underwritten shares. The underwriter may offer the underwritten shares from time to time in one or more transactions, in block sales, on the NYSE, in the over-the-counter market or in negotiated transactions, at market prices prevailing at the time of sale or at negotiated prices.
The Company has also been advised that the counterparties or their affiliates or agents expect to borrow an additional 3,206,452 shares of the Company’s common stock (the “additional shares”) from third-party stock lenders and expect to sell those additional shares through the underwriter, from time to time after the offering, in block sales, on the NYSE, in the over-the-counter market or in negotiated transactions, at market prices prevailing at the time of sale or at negotiated prices. Those additional shares will not be included in the offering.
The offering is expected to close on or about August 8, 2023, subject to customary closing conditions.
In addition, subject to the consummation of the purchase and sale of the underwritten shares in the offering, the Company intends to concurrently repurchase shares from the Selling Stockholder at a price per share equal to the price at which the underwriter will purchase the underwritten shares from the counterparties in the offering, which price per share will be net of underwriting discounts, in the amount of approximately $250 million. The concurrent share repurchase will be made under the Company’s share repurchase program and the repurchased shares will be held in treasury. The closing of the concurrent share repurchase will be conditioned upon the closing of the offering and therefore there can be no assurance that the concurrent share repurchase will be completed. The offering is not conditioned upon the completion of the concurrent share repurchase.
The underwritten shares of common stock to be sold in the offering will be offered pursuant to the Company’s automatically effective registration statement (and prospectus) on Form S-3 previously filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Before you invest, you should read the prospectus in that registration statement and other documents the Company has filed with the SEC for more complete information about the Company and this offering. You may get these documents for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, a copy of the prospectus supplement relating to the offering may be obtained by contacting: Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282, telephone: 1-866-471-2526, facsimile: 212-902-9316 or by emailing Prospectus-ny@ny.email.gs.com.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities law of any such state or jurisdiction.
About AmerisourceBergen
AmerisourceBergen is a leading global pharmaceutical solutions organization centered on improving the lives of people and animals around the world. We partner with pharmaceutical innovators across the value chain to facilitate and optimize market access to therapies. Care providers depend on us for the secure, reliable delivery of pharmaceuticals, healthcare products, and solutions. Our 46,000+ worldwide team members contribute to positive health outcomes through the power of our purpose: We are united in our responsibility to create healthier futures. AmerisourceBergen is ranked #11 on the Fortune 500 and #21 on the Global Fortune 500 with more than $200 billion in annual revenue.
AmerisourceBergen’s Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain of the statements contained in this press release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (which the Company refers to as the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Words such as “expect,” “likely,” “outlook,” “forecast,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “can,” “project,” “intend,” “plan,” “continue,” “sustain,” “synergy,” “on track,” “believe,” “seek,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “may,” “possible,” “assume,” variations of such words, and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of the management of the Company and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances and speak only as of the date hereof. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are based on assumptions and estimates that could prove incorrect or could cause actual results to vary materially from those indicated. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated, or implied are the following: the effect of and uncertainties related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (including any government responses thereto) and any continued recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; the Company’s ability to achieve and maintain profitability in the future; the Company’s ability to respond to general economic conditions, including elevated levels of inflation; the Company’s ability to manage the Company’s growth effectively and the Company’s expectations regarding the development and expansion of the Company’s business; the impact on the Company’s business of the regulatory environment and complexities with compliance; unfavorable trends in brand and generic pharmaceutical pricing, including in rate or frequency of price inflation or deflation; competition and industry consolidation of both customers and suppliers resulting in increasing pressure to reduce prices for the Company’s products and services; changes in the United States healthcare and regulatory environment, including changes that could impact prescription drug reimbursement under Medicare and Medicaid and declining reimbursement rates for pharmaceuticals; increasing governmental regulations regarding the pharmaceutical supply channel; continued federal and state government enforcement initiatives to detect and prevent suspicious orders of controlled substances and the diversion of controlled substances; continued prosecution or suit by federal and state governmental entities and other parties (including third-party payors, hospitals, hospital groups and individuals) of alleged violations of laws and regulations regarding controlled substances, and any related disputes, including shareholder derivative lawsuits; increased federal scrutiny and litigation, including qui tam litigation, for alleged violations of laws and regulations governing the marketing, sale, purchase and/or dispensing of pharmaceutical products or services, and associated reserves and costs; failure to comply with the Company’s 2018 Corporate Integrity Agreement with the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; the outcome of any legal or governmental proceedings that may be instituted against us, including material adverse resolution of pending legal proceedings; the retention of key customer or supplier relationships under less favorable economics or the adverse resolution of any contract or other dispute with customers or suppliers; changes to customer or supplier payment terms, including as a result of the COVID-19 impact on such payment terms; unexpected costs, charges or expenses resulting from the acquisitions of PharmaLex and OneOncology; the integration of the Alliance Healthcare, PharmaLex and OneOncology businesses into the Company being more difficult, time consuming or costly than expected; the Company’s, Alliance Healthcare’s, PharmaLex’s or OneOncology’s failure to achieve expected or targeted future financial and operating performance and results; the effects of disruption from the acquisition and related strategic transactions on the respective businesses of the Company and Alliance Healthcare and the fact that the acquisition and related strategic transactions may make it more difficult to establish or maintain relationships with employees, suppliers and other business partners; the acquisition of businesses, including the acquisitions of the Alliance Healthcare, PharmaLex and OneOncology businesses and related strategic transactions, that do not perform as expected, or that are difficult to integrate or control, or the inability to capture all of the anticipated synergies related thereto or to capture the anticipated synergies within the expected time period; risks associated with the strategic, long-term relationship between Walgreens Boots Alliance and the Company, including with respect to the pharmaceutical distribution agreement and/or the global generic purchasing services arrangement; managing foreign expansion, including non-compliance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, anti-bribery laws, economic sanctions and import laws and regulations; the Company’s ability to respond to financial market volatility and disruption; changes in tax laws or legislative initiatives that could adversely affect the Company’s tax positions and/or the Company’s tax liabilities or adverse resolution of challenges to the Company’s tax positions; the loss, bankruptcy or insolvency of a major supplier, or substantial defaults in payment, material reduction in purchases by or the loss, bankruptcy or insolvency of a major customer, including as a result of COVID-19; financial and other impacts of COVID-19 on the Company’s operations or business continuity; changes to the customer or supplier mix; malfunction, failure or breach of sophisticated information systems to operate as designed, and risks generally associated with cybersecurity; risks generally associated with data privacy regulation and the protection and international transfer of personal data; regulatory and legal implications relating to the March 2023 cybersecurity event sustained by one of the Company’s foreign business units in one country; financial and other impacts of macroeconomic and geopolitical trends and events, including the situation in Russia and Ukraine and its regional and global ramifications; natural disasters or other unexpected events, such as additional pandemics, that affect the Company’s operations; the impairment of goodwill or other intangible assets (including any additional impairments with respect to foreign operations), resulting in a charge to earnings; the Company’s ability to manage and complete divestitures; the disruption of the Company’s cash flow and ability to return value to its stockholders in accordance with its past practices; interest rate and foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; declining economic conditions and increases in inflation in the United States and abroad; and other economic, business, competitive, legal, tax, regulatory and/or operational factors affecting the Company’s business generally.
Certain additional factors that management believes could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements are set forth (i) in Item 1A. Risk Factors in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2022 and elsewhere therein and (ii) in other documents filed by the Company with the SEC pursuant to the Exchange Act. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, except as required by the federal securities laws.