CVS Caremark Corp said on Wednesday it bought Drogaria Onofre, Brazil's eighth-largest drugstore chain last week, marking the first time the drugstore and pharmacy services company has ventured outside the United States.Onofre's stores will continue to be managed locally by two brothers currently running the chain, and the acquisition should not affect CVS's finances in 2013, Chief Executive Larry Merlo told Reuters."We view Brazil as an attractive market given that healthcare and pharmacy are expected to grow double digits for the next decade," said Merlo. "It's still a highly fragmented market, so we see nice opportunity to grow the business."Sao Paulo-based Onofre is Brazil's eighth biggest pharmacy group by sales, and the 18th largest by number of stores, according to local industry group Abrafarma. The all-cash deal will give CVS 100 percent of Onofre, CVS said in an e-mailed response to questions.
CVS Caremark Corporation (CVS Caremark), together with its subsidiaries, is a pharmacy health care provider in the United States. Shares of CVS fell by 0.93% or $-0.48/share to $51.24. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $42.43 and as high as $52.73. On average, 6399560 shares of CVS exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 7330225.
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