CVS, REVCO TO MERGE IN $2.8 BILLION DEAL.Byline: Maria Shao The Boston Globe The drugstore industry's consolidation continued Friday as CVS (1) (Concurrent Versions System) A version control system for Unix that was initially developed as a series of shell scripts in the mid-1980s. CVS maintains the changes between one source code version and another and stores all the changes in one file. Corp. of Rhode Island Rhode Island, island, United States Rhode Island, island, 15 mi (24 km) long and 5 mi (8 km) wide, S R.I., at the entrance to Narragansett Bay. It is the largest island in the state, with steep cliffs and excellent beaches. said it will buy Revco D.S D.S Drainage Structure (flood protection) . Inc. of Ohio in a $2.8 billion deal that would make CVS the nation's biggest drugstore chain in terms of stores, and the second largest in sales. The combined company would have 4,000 retail outlets in 24 states and the District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). , giving it greater clout in winning pharmaceutical contracts from managed care providers. The merged behemoth behemoth (bē`hĭmŏth, bĭhē`–) [Heb.,=plural of beast], large, fanciful primeval monster, like Leviathan, evoking the hippopotamus mentioned in the Book of Job. would have projected revenue of $13 billion for 1997. Besides paying $2.8 billion, CVS will assume about $900 million of Revco debt. The merger is expected to be completed by midyear. CVS stores are concentrated in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states Mid-At·lan·tic States See Middle Atlantic States. Noun 1. Mid-Atlantic states - a region of the eastern United States comprising New York and New Jersey and Pennsylvania and Delaware and Maryland U.S.A. , while Revco operates in the Midwest and Southeast. Analysts said the CVS-Revco combination may be the last blockbuster drugstore merger in a while. Companies in the once-sleepy drugstore industry have been rushing to combine as managed care providers increasingly squeeze pharmacy profit margins. Drugstores also face increasing competition from supermarkets, mail-order prescription businesses and large discounters. By combining, the drugstore chains can squeeze out costs and gain clout in negotiating with health maintenance organizations. Analysts hailed the deal, saying it lets CVS expand in one fell swoop into new markets. CVS is strong in store operations - with the highest sales per square foot in the industry - while Revco has updated stores and a mail-order pharmaceutical business that CVS lacks, said analysts. |
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