Rite Aid Prepares to Sell Remaining Assets

As the June 18 deadline for bidding on the remaining assets of Rite Aid nears, the potential buyers who are looking them over reportedly include pharmacy chain Walgreens, reality star turned entrepreneur Kourtney Kardashian, consumer-focused private equity firms, and three brand management companies: Authentic Brands Group, WHP Global and Marquee Brands.

A bankruptcy judge already approved store closures and a sale of customer prescription files to CVS Health, Walmart and 11 other buyers, Reuters reported Tuesday (June 10).

According to the report, Kardashian and the private equity firms are interested in Rite Aid’s ice cream brand Thrifty, while Walgreens and the three brand management companies are evaluating Rite Aid’s intellectual property and loyalty program.

Rite Aid, which operates 1,200 stores, filed for bankruptcy in May while facing a high debt load, inflationary pressures and growing competition, per the report.

The company’s bankruptcy filing was its second in three years and came less than one year after Rite Aid emerged from a previous restructuring effort, PYMNTS reported at the time.

Rite Aid emerged from the first bankruptcy in September, saying it was in a stronger position with “significantly less debt and additional financial resources,” but still carried over $2 billion in debt and continued to face challenges from inflation and lower consumer demand.

The company said in a May 5 statement that “it is pursuing a strategic and value-maximizing sale process for substantially all of its assets.”

In a May 6 court filing, Rite Aid said that its return to bankruptcy protection was primarily due to post-emergence inventory shortages that created a “vicious cycle” in which diminishing liquidity led to empty shelves, and vice versa.

On May 19, it was reported that the company revealed 95 locations it wanted to close, bringing to 210 the total number of stores it targeted for closure.

A day earlier, Rite Aid said it had reached agreements to sell prescription files for more than 1,000 pharmacy locations, nearly all of its stores, with CVS, Walgreens, Albertsons, Kroger and Giant Eagle among the successful bidders.

CVS said at the time that it planned to purchase prescription files for 625 locations and take over 64 physical Rite Aid stores.