Walgreen Stays in U.S. as It Buys Rest of Alliance Boots

Walgreen Co., the biggest U.S. drugstore chain, said it plans to pay about $15.3 billion for the part of Alliance Boots it doesn’t already own, and won’t use the deal to move its tax address abroad. The shares dropped the most in almost seven years.

Walgreen, which will remain based in Deerfield, Illinois, previously controlled about 45 percent of Boots, the Swiss company that runs pharmacy and beauty stores in Europe. It will pay about $5.29 billion in cash and $10 billion in Walgreen stock for the remaining stake, the company said in a statement. The stock declined 14 percent to $59.21 at the close in New York, the biggest single-day fall since October 2007.